CALEDONIA
CALEDONIA:
OB,
A HISTOEICAL AND TOPOGEAPHIO AL
ACCOUNT OF NORTH BRITAIN
FROM THE MOST ANCIENT TO THE PRESENT TIMES,
WITH
A DICTIONARY OF PLACES
[CHOROGRAPHICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL.
BY
GEORGE CHALMERS, F.R.S., F.S.A.
NEW EDITION. — VOL. I.
PAISLEY: ALEXANDER GARDNER.
1887.
^.
DA
THE NEW CLUB SERIES
JnstituteD, |une, ^.Occc.lrrtiii.
PUBLISHEK : ALEX. GARDNER, PAISLEY.
^2^Z39
EEGULATIONS
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
In issuing this [edition of Chalmers' Caledonia it is right to explain
its character, and the extent of the matter now for the first time published.
As is well known, the original edition of Caledonia is rare, and this
fact, together with the esteem in which the work is held as an authority
on all that concerns Scotland, makes its republication desirable. Chalmers'
original scheme was not completed ; three only of the four volumes he
projected having been published when his death arrested the progress of
the work. He left, however, in Manuscript the " Accounts " of most
of the counties north of the Forth, and the " Topographical Dictionary of
Places " to which he repeatedly refers. The permission of the Faculty of
Advocates having been granted, the publisher proposes to issue the hitherto
unprinted portion of Caledonia as left by the Author, carefully revised, and
with the addition of much fresh matter. The Caledonia will then furnish
a body of information relating to the history, topography, and antiquities
of Scotland, such as the literature of no other nation supplies. The notices
of parishes will be revised, verified, and brought up to date, and every
care will be taken to make this portion of the work as accurate as possible.
The purely historical portion, comprised in this and the following volume,
is given without material change, as the interpolation of fresh matter
would inevitably lead to confusion, and impair the value of the woi'k as
containing an original view of the History of the country. This section
of the work is so full of controversial matter that it is felt it would
be unwise to attempt to readjust or amend the conclusions of an author
renowned as the exponent of a well-defined system of Scottish history. For
Ti. IMTEODUCTORY NOTE.
the use of such readers as desire to compare Chalmers' opinions with the
residts of later research, a hst of works by inoie recent wiiters is appended to
this notice. From these, and the Additional Notes at the end of Volume
II. of the present edition, a fair notion may be obtained of the many
points with regard to which writers on the history and national antiquities
of Scotland hold conflicting views. The only alterations which have
been made in the historical part of Caledonia are connected with ortho-
graphy and punctuation. The spelling of place-names has been modernised
when the change does not interfere with the Author's etymological deduc^
tious, and the work throughout has been repunctuated. The titles of the
more important authorities, imperfectly cited or abbreviated in the text, are
given with greater fulness at the end of this notice ; and a few notes have
been inserted within brackets to explain obscure passages. In other respects
the text is that of Chalmers.
Note. — The paging of Volume I. of the original edition ruus through Volumes L and H. of thi»
edition, and so ou in the other Volumes.
LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES IN VOL. L
[The following bibliographical list of the works quoted by Chalmers will be found useful in aiding those
who wish to collate the text of "Caledonia" with the authorities on which it is based, and have diffi-
culty in identifying the books to which reference is made by the abbreviations given.]
Anderson (James). Selectus Diplomatiim et Nu-
niismatum Scotite Thesaurus, Edin. 1739, fo.
Arch^ologia Scotica : or Transactions of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Edin.
1792, etc., 4to. (Continued to present date.)
Aechaiolooy, The Mvvtrian, of Wales, collected
out of Ancient Manuscripts. Loud. 1801-7,
3 vols.
Beaufort (D. A.) Memoir of a Map of Ireland.
Lond. 1792, 4to.
Bede. Historise Ecclesiastical gentis Anglornm.
Camb. 1722, fo. (Edited by J. Smith. Trans,
by Stevens in 1723.
Blaeu (J.) Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie
Blaviane. Amsterdam, 1663, fo. , 12 vols.
(Vol. 6 is Scotland, by Gordon and Pont.)
Boece (Hector). Scotorum Historias h prima gen-
tis origine... Paris, 1526, fo. Also Bellenden's
translation of the " Histoiy and Croniklis of
Scotlaud" in the handsome edition of Lord
Dundrennan. Edin. 1821, 2 vols., 4to.
BoRLASE (William). Observations on the Anti-
quities of the County of Cornwall. Oxford,
1754, fo.
Buchanan (George). Rerum Scoticarum Historia.
Edin. 1582, fo. Trans, in numerous editions,
1690, to Aikman's, 1827, 4 vols., 8vo.
Camden (William). Britannia. Translated from
the Edition pulilished by the Author in mdcvii.
Enlarged by the Litest Discoveries, by Richard
Cough. Loud. 1789, 3 vols., fo.
Collectanea de Rebus Hiberviois, published from
Original Manuscripts and Illustrated by Notes
and Remark.s. [E lited by Charles Vallancey,
LL.D.] Dublin, 1786-1804, 6 vols.
CoRDiNER (Charles). Antiquities and Scenery of
the North <.f Scotland... Lond. 1780, 4to.
Crawfurd (George). Lives and Characters of the
Officers of the Crown and of the State in Scot-
land...Ediu. 1726, vol. 1 (all published), fo.
Dalrymple (SiK Jamb.s). Historical Collections
concerning the Scottish History, preceding the
Death of King David I., 1153. Edin. 1705, 8vo.
Da VIES (John). Antiqua? Linguae nunc vulgo dictte
Cambro-Britannicte. Lond. 1632, fo.
Douglas (James). Nenia Britannica : or, a Sepul-
chral History of Great Britain, from the Earliest
Period to its General Conversion to Christianity.
Lond. 1793, fo.
Douglas (Sir Robert). Peerage of Scotland.
Edin. 1764, fo. New edit, by J. P. Wood.
Edin. 1813, 2 vols., fo.
DuoDALE (Sir W.) Monasticon Anglicanum...Lond.
1655-73, 3 vols., fo. (Also in English by J.
Stevens, Lond. 1718-23, 3 vols., fo.)
Florence OP Worcester. Chron icon... Lond. 1592,
4to. (Also republished in English in Bohn's
Historical Library.)
FoRDUN (John op). Scotichronicon...edit. by
Th. Hearu. Oxford, 1722, 5 vols., 8vo. Also
edited by W. Goodall, Edin. 1759, 2 vols., fo.,
and Skene (with translation), Edin. 1871-72,
2 vols., 8vo.
Gebelin (A. C. de). Le Monde Primitif, analyst
et compart avec le Monde Modeme. Paris,
1773-82, 9 vols., 4to.
Histoire Naturelle de la
Parole, ou Precis de I'Origine du Lansnase et
de la Grammaire Universelle. Paris, 1776, 8vo.
Gordon (Alexander). Itinerarium Septentrionale :
or a Journey through most of the Counties of
Scotland, and those in the North of England.
London, 1726-,32, 2 parts, fo.
GouGH (Richard). British Topography: or an
Historical Account of what has been done for
illuslratiiig the Topographical Antiquities of
Great Britain and Ireland. Lond. 1780, 2
vols. . 4to.
Grose (Fkancis). The Antiquities of Ireland.
Lond. 1791 -.5, 2 vols., fo. [Historical part
written by Dr. Ledwich.]
Antiquities of Scotland. Lond.
1789-91, 2 vols., fo.
Hailes (Lord). Annals of Scotland from the Ac-
cession of Malcolm III. to the Accession of the
House of Stewart. Edin. 1776-79, 2 vols., 4to.
Also Edin. 1819. 3 vols.. 8vo.
HoRSLEY (John) Britannia Romana. or the Roman
Antiquities of Britain. Limd. 1732, fo.
Till.
LIST OF AUTHOEITIES.
HovEDEN (Rogek). Chronicle. In Sir H. Savile's
Rernm Anglicarum Scriptores. 1596, fo. [Also
reprinted by the Record Commissioners.]
Innes (Thomas). A Critical Essay on the Ancient
Inhabitants of Scotlnnd. Lond. 1729, 2 vols.,
8vo. Also republished in the Historians of
Scotland, edited by Dr. VV. F Skene.
Civil and Ecclesiastical History
of Scotland, 80-818. [Ed. by George Gnil..]
Aberdeen, Spalding Club, 1853, 4to. Thia is
the MS. work so frequently quoted by Chal-
mers. It was reprinted from the MS. in
Chalmers' possession.
Keith (Robert). A Large and New Catalogue of
the Bishops of Scotland to 1688. Edin. 1755,
4to. New ed. by Russell. Edin. 1824, 8vo.
Kennedy (Matthew). Chronological, Genealogical,
and Historical Dissertation of the Royal Family
of the Stuarts. Paris, 1705, 8vo.
King (Edward). Munimenta Antiqua ; or, Obser-
vations on Ancient Castles, including Remarks
on the whole progress of Architecture, Ecclesi-
astical as well as Military, in Great Britain, etc.
Lond., 1799-1805, 4 vols., fo.
Langebeck (Jaijub). Scriptores rerum Danicaruni
medii sevi... Copenhagen, 1772, etc., 9 vols., fo.
Ledwich (Edward). Antiquities of Ireland. Dub-
lin, 1793, 4to.
Lhuyd or Lloyd (Edward). Archteologia Bri-
tannica. Oxford, 1707, fo. (Vol. 1 all pub-
lished.)
Adversaria de Flu-
viorum, Montium, Urbium, etc. in Britannia
Non\inibus. Lond. 1719, 8vo.
Lloyd (Himphrey). Commentariolii Britannicee
Deacriptionis Fragmentura. 1572.
Macpherson (David). Geographical Illustrations
of Scottish History, witli Explanations of the
difficult and disputed points. Lond. 1796, 4to.
Macpherson (James). An Introduction to the
History of Great Britain and Ireland. Lond.
1773, 4to.
Macpherson (John). Critical Dissertations on the
Origin, Antiquities, etc. of the Ancient Cale-
donians. Lond. 1768, 4to.
Maitland ( William). The History and Antiquities
of Scotland from the Earliest Account of Time,
etc. Lond. 1757, 2 vols., fo.
Major (John). De Historia gentis Scotorum libri
sex. ..Paris, 1521, 4to, and Edin. 1740, 4to.
Martin (M.) A Description of the Western Isles
of Scotland. ..Lond. 1703, 8vo.
Maule (Henry). History of the Picts. Edin.
1706, 12mo. Also reprinted in the Miscellanea
Scotica, vol. 4.
O'Brien (J.) Focaloir Gaoidhilge-Sax-Bhearla ; or,
an Irish-English Dictionary. Paris, 1768, 4to.
Dublin, 1832.
O'CoNOR (Charles). Dissertations on the History
of Ireland. Dublin, 1766, 8vo.
O'CoNOR (Charles). Ogygia Vindicated against the
Objections of Sir George Mackenzie. Dublin,
1775, 8vo.
O'Flaherty (Rodekii). Ogygia, sive rerum Hiber-
nicarum Chronologia. Lond. 1685, 4to. Trans,
by Jas. Heley, 1793, 2 vols., 8vo.
Orkneyinga Saga, sive Historia Orcadensium a
prima per Norwegos Orcadum occupatione ad
exitum steculi XII. Ed. by J. Jonaeus.
Copenhagen, 1780, 4to. [See also the trans-
lation by Hjaltalin and Goudie, edited by Dr.
Joseph Anderson. Edin. 1873, 8vo.]
Owen (William). Dictionary of the Welch Lan-
guage, explained in English. ..Lond. 1803, 2
vols, 8vo.
Pelloutier (S.) Histoire des Celtes. Paris, 1770-
71, 2 vols, 4to.
Pennant (Thomas). Tours in Scotland in 1769 and
1772. Lond. 1776, 3 vols., 4to.
Tours in Wales in 1773. Lond.
1778-84, 2 vols. (3 parts), 4to.
Pinkebton (John). An Enquiry into the History
of Scotland preceding the Reign of Malcolm
III., or the year 105U, including the Authentic
History of that Period. Lond. 1789, 2 vols.,
8vo. New ed., Edin. 1814, 2 vols., 8vo.
[Appendix includes Dissertation on the Origin
and Progress of the Scythians or Goths.]
Richard of Cirencester. Britannicarum gentium
histories antiquse tres : Ricardus Corinensis,
codas Badonicus, Nennius Banchorensis. [Ed.
by C. Bertram.] Copenhagen, 1757, 8vo. Also,
An Account of Richard of Cirencester, with his
Ancient Map and Itinerary of Roman Britain.
By VV. Stukeley. Lond. 1757, 4to.
The Description of Bri-
tain translated. ..with the original Treatise de
Situ Britannife, and a Commentary on the
Itinerary. Lond. 1809, 8vo.
Richards (Thomas). Antiquse LinguK Britannici«
Thesaurus ; being a British or Welsh-English
Dictionary.. .Bristol, 1753, 8vo.
Robertson (William). Index. ..of many Records
of Charters, granted by the different Sovereigns
of Scotland between the years 1309 and 1413.
Edin. 1798, 4to.
Rowlands (Henry). Mona Anriqua restaurata, or
Antiquities, Natural and Historical, of the Isle
of Anglesay. Dublin, 1723, 4to.
Roy (William). The Military Antiquities of the
Romans in Britain. Lond. 1793, fo.
Rymek (Thomas). Fosdera, conventiones, literse et
cujuscunque generis acta publica inter reges
Angli;e, et alios quosois imperatores, reges, pon-
tifices, principes, etc. Lond. 1704-35, 20 v., fo.
Saxon Chronicle. Chronicon Saxonicum, seu
Annales Rerum in Anglia gestarum. Oxford,
1692, 4to. (Ed. by E. Gibson.)
ScHiLTER (Johann). Thesaurus Antiquitatum
Teutonicarum Ecclesiaaticarum, Civilium, etc.
Ulm, 1727-28, 3 vols., fo.
Shaw (Wm.) A Galic and English Dictionary...
Lond. 1780, 2 vols., 4to.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
IX.
SiBBALD (Sir Robert). The History of the Sheriff-
doms of Linlithgow and Stirling. Edin. 1710,
fo.
History of the Sheriffdoms
of Fife and Kinross... Edin. 1710, fo. (Also
Cupar Fife, 1803, 8vo.)
Description of the Isles of
Orkney and Zetland. Edin. 1711, fo. (Also
Edin. 1845, Svo.)
Historical Inquiries con-
cerning the Roman Monuments and Antiquities
in the North Part of Britain called Scotland.
Edin. 1707, fo.
Simeon of Durham. Historia Ecclesiss Dunhel-
mensis. Lond. 1732, 8vo.
Smith (John). Galic Antiquities, consisting of a
History of the Druids, particularly of those of
Caledonia. Edin. 1780, 4to.
Statistical Account of Scotland. Drawn up
from tlie Communications of the Ministers of
the Different Parishes. By Sir John Sinclair.
Edin. 1791-99, 21 vols., 8vo.
Stillingfleet (Edward). Origines Britannicie ;
or, the Antiquities of the British Churches.
Lond. 1685, fo.
Origines Sacra, or a
Rational Account of the Christian Faith.
Lond. 1662, 4to.
Stckeley (William). Abury, a Temple of the
British Druids, with some others described.
Lond. 1743, fo.
Itinerarium Curiosum, or
an Account of the Antiquitys and Remarkable
Curiosities of Great Britain. Lond. 1776, 2
vols., fo.
TiGBRNACH. The Annals of Tigemach, quoted by
O'Flaherty, are printed entire in O'Conor's
Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptures, 1814-26. Vol.
2. Also partially in Skene's Chronicles of the
Picts and Scots.
Tillemont (S. Le Nain db). Histoire des Em-
pereurs. Paris, 1690-1738, 6 vols., 4to.
ToRF.«u.s (Thormodus). Orcades, seu Rerum Or-
cadensium Historia. Copenhagen, 1697, fo.
Historia Rerum Norvegi-
carum. Copenhagen, 1711, 4 vols., fo.
Ulster Annals. The best printed edition is con-
tained in vol. 4 of O'Conor's (Charles) Rerum
Hibernicarum Scriptores. 1814-26, 4 vols., 4to.
Ure (David). History of Rutherglen and East
Kilbride. Glas. 1793, 8vo.
Usher (Jambs). Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
quitates Primordia. Dublin, 1639, 4to.
Wachter (J. G.). Glossarium Germanicura. Leip-
zig, 1737, 2 vols., fo.
Wallace (Jambs). Description of the Islands of
Orkney. Edin. 1693, 12mo.
Wakburton (John). Vallum Romanum ; or, the
History of the Roman Wall. Lond. 1753, 4to.
Ware (Sir Jambs). De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus
ejus Disquisitiones. Lond. 1654, 8vo. (Also
in Whole Works revised by W. Harris. Dub-
lin, 1739-46, 3 vols., fo.)
Wells (Edward). Historical Geography of the Old
and New Testament. Lond. 1711-18, 4 vols.,
8vo.
Wharton (Henry). Anglia Sacra, sive collectio
Historiarum de Archie piscopis et Episcopis
Angliie ad annum 1540. Lond. 1691, 2 vols.,
fo.
Whitaker (John). History of Manchester. Lond.
1771-5, 2 vols., 4to.
— ■ Genuine History of the Britons
asserted in a full and candid Refutation of Mr.
Macpherson's Introduction to the History of
Great Britain and Ireland. Lond. 1772, 8vo.
William of Malmesbdry. History of the Kings
of England... Ed. by J. Sharpe. Lond. 1815,
4to. (Also early editions.)
W^ooD (John P.). The Ancient and Modern State
of the Parish of Cramond. Edin. 1794, 4to.
Wyntoun (Andrew of). De Orygynale CronykiU
of Scotland. With notes, etc. , by D. Macpher-
son. Lond. 1795, 2 vols., 8vo. Also ed. by
David Laing. Edin. 1872-79, 3 vols. , 8vo.
Chartularies of Religious Houses printed by the
Bannatyne Club since Chalmers wrote : —
Chronica de Mailros. Edin. 1835, 4to.
Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis...Ed. by C.
Innes. 1843, 2 vols., 4to.
Liber S. Marie de Calchou (Kelso).. .Ed. by C.
Innes. 1846, 4to.
Registrum Abbacie de Aberbrothoc. 1848, 4to.
Registrum S. Marie de Neubotle. Ed. by C.
Innes. 1849, 4to.
Liber Ecclesie de Scon. Edin. 1843, 4to.
Registrum Episcopatus Moravienais. Edin. 1837,
4to.
LIST OF WORKS ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND PUBLISHED
SmCE VOL. L OF "CALEDONIA" APPEARED IN 1807.
Andbrson (Joseph). Scotland in Early Christian
Times. Edin. 1881, 2 vols, 8vo.
Scotland in Pagan Times.
Edin. 1883-86, 2 vols., 8vo.
Anttquakibs of Scotland, Proceedings of the
Society of. Edin. 1851-1886.
Burton (John Hill). History of Scotland, from
Agricola's Invasion to the Extinction of the
last Jacobite Insurrection. Edin. 1876, 8
vols., 8vo.
Fergcsson (James).
the Brochs, etc.
Essay on the Age and Uses of
Lond. 1877, 8vo.
Grub (George). Ecclesiastical History of Scotland.
Edin. 1861, 4 vols., 8vo.
Innes (Cosmo). Sketches of Early Scotch History
and Social Progress. Edin. 1861, 8vo.
Scotland in the Middle Ages...
Edin. 1860, 8vo.
Jamie.son (John). Historical Account of the
Ancient Culdees of lona. 1811, 4to.
Etymological Dictionary of the
Scottish Language... Edin. 1808, 2 vols., 4to.
New edition. Paisley, 1879, etc., 4vols.,4to.
[See the Introduction.]
Leslie (Col. Forbes). The Early Races of Scot-
land and their Monuments. Edin. 1866, 2
vols., 8vo.
Maclagan (Christian). The Hill Forts, Stone
Circles, and other Structural Remains of
Ancient Scotland. Edin. 1875, fo.
RiTSON (Joseph). Memoirs of the Celts or Gauls.
Lond. 1827, 8vo.
Annals of the Caledonians, Picts,
and Scots ; and of Strathclyde, Cumberland,
Galloway, and Murray. Edin. 1828, 2 vols., 8vo.
Robertson (E. W.). Scotland under her Early
Kings. A History of the Kingdom to the Close
of the Thirteenth Century. Edin. 1862, 2 vols.,
8vo.
Skene (W. F.) Celtic Scotland: a History of
Ancient Alban. Edin. 1876-80, 3 vols. , 8vo.
Chronicles of the Picts, Chronicles
of the Scots, and other Early Memorials of
Scottish History. Edin. 1867, 8vo.
Statistical Account (New) of Scotland, by the
Ministers of the Respective Parishes. Edin.
1845, 15 vols., 8vo.
Stuart (John). Sculptured Stones of Scotland.
Aberdeen — Edinburgh, Spalding Club, 1856-67,
2 vols. , fo.
Stuart (Robert). Caledonia Romana : a Descrip-
tive Account of the Roman Antiquities of Scot-
land. Edin. 1844, 4to. 2nd edition, Edin.
1852, 4to.
Wilson (Daniel). Prehistoric Annals of Scotland.
2nd ed., Lond. 1863, 2 vols., 8vo.
CALEDONIA:
OR,
An account,
HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHIC,
OF
NORTH BRITAIN;
FROM
THE MOST ANCIENT
TO
THE PRESENT TIMES:
WITH
A DICTIONARY
OF PLACES,
CHOROGRAPHICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
BY GEORGE CHALMERS, F.R.S. and S.A.
LONDON:
Printed for T. Cadell, and W. Davies, Strand ; and
A. Constable and Co. at Edinburgh.
1807.
' Antiquities may be looked upon 05 the planks of a shipwreck, which industrious and
ivise men gather and preserve from the deluge of time." — Bacon.
PREFACE
IPRESU]\IE to lay before the public a work which has been the agreeable amuse-
ment of many evenings.
The earhest ages of the Scottish annals have been considered by able writers as the
wild region of pure fable, and have been fastidiously resigned by great historians to
the vain credulity of industrious antiquaries. Yet was I not discouraged from per-
severing in the piu-pose which I had long entertained of rectifying the ancient history
of North-Britain, whatever might be its fabulousness, or obscurity, or its difficulties,
arising from disputes. I thought I saw " a clue to guide me through this gloomy maze,"
and I was not in the habit of being very apprehensive of " certain contentious humours
" which are never to be pleased." 1 soon formed my plan, and began to collect my
documents, knowing that in the details of history, as well as in the distribution of
justice, he who proposes what is not admitted as incontrovertible, ought to give the
best evidence which the nature of the subject allows. I immediately perceived that the
ancient chronicles which the critical lunes first submitted to the public did not plunge
tha curious reader into the abyss of fabulous antiquity. It was during the vehement
competition for the Scottish crown that the two nations, the one contending for supe-
riority and the other for independence, carried up their several pretensions to the
utmost verge of " antiquary times." Those great examples were followed by the two
earliest of the Scottish chroniclers, Fordun and Wyntoun, who brought the aborigines
of Scotland from Egypt by a direct transmission during the remotest ages. Boece and
Buchanan, who might have derived a better spirit from the recent revival of learning,
went beyond those iiseful chroniclei's in the grossness of their fables and the absiirchties
of their theories. It was wittily remarked by the late Lord Hailes that " although
" we have been long reformed from Popery, we are not yet refoimed from the fictions of
" Hector Boece." Lord Bacon complained, in his Advancevient of Learning, " of the
" partiality and obliquity of the history of Scotland in the latest and largest author
" [Buchanan] that I have seen." Yet did the late learned author of the Ancient
Peerages declare " the sceptical doubts of Buchanan as entitled to more consideration
" than the laborious researches of shallow antiquaries." Till the scholars of Scotland
shall be reformed from such " speculative heresies," it will be scarcely possible to
rectify the eiTors of fabulists, or to repress the dogmas of her polemics. Of those
veracious chronicles, as they have been pubhshed in the Critical Essay of Innes, I have
made some good use ; of the fablers who succeeded them, I have hardly made any.
Vol. I. b
vi. THE PREFACE.
By pursuing a very different track, and using quite dissimilar proofs, I have been able
to ascertain the Aboiigines of Caledonia by evidence which comes near to demonstration.
Without appealing to doubtful authorities, I have traced the Roman Transactions in
North-Britain, and have illustrated the obscure histories of the Picts and Scots from
such satisfactory documents as convey moral certainties.
The earliest disputes touching the Scottish history began with the petulant attack of
George Buchanan on Humphrey Lluyd, for presuming to suppose the Britons to be mure
ancient than the Scots. But a thousand facts which are now stated collaterally attest
that Buchanan was wrong, while the Welsh antiquary was right. The effluxion of a
century brought very different polemics upon the stage. Sir George Mackenzie, a
scholar of various erudition, was so heroic as to come before the public in defence of
the length of the royal hue of the Scottish kings against Bishop Lloyd. This heroism of
the Lord Advocate called out that able controvertist. Bishop Stillingfleet. There are
documents now introduced for a very difierent piu-pose, which prove, with full con-
viction, that Sir George attempted impossibilities, while Stillingfleet only showed how
much he over-rated his own knowledge. The King's Advocate was thus di-awn into a
dispute vrith the Irish antiquaries touching the original country of the Scots. The
genuine history of this Gaelic people, which from satisfactory information is at length
submitted to the reader, demonstrates that the antiquaries were historically right,
while the Lord Advocate was completely fabulous. This success led the Irish writers to
claim the family of the Stewarts as by descent their own. They were encountered by
Richard Hay, a professed antiquaiy, who pointed out their errors without being able to
ascertain the truth. The genuine origin of the Stewart family will be found to be fully
discovered after the researches of learned men had altogether failed. The ti'ue descent
of the Douglas family had been equally sought for by intelligent zeal, but without
success, whatever diligence and learning were employed in the search. Their origin
will be seen in the following work, as it was discovered in charters. Thus ■will it
appear, from the perusal of the following Account of North-Britain, that there has been
scarcely a controversy in her annals which is not therein settled, a difflculty that is not
obviated, a knot wliich is not untied, or an obscurity that is not illustrated from
documents as new as they are decisive, though they are introduced for different
pm-poses. Such is the elaboration of this work ; it may perhaps supply hope with
expectation that the wild controversies of the elder times may be now consigned to
lasting repose.
" The history of Scotland," saith the late Mstoriographer royal, " may properly be
" divided into four periods. The first reaches from the origin of the monarchy to the
" reign of Kenneth II. The second from Kenneth's conquest of the Picts to the death
« of Alexander IIL The third extends to the death of James V. The last from thence
« to the accession of James VI. to the crown of England. The first period [from 0 to
" 843, A.D.] is the region of pure fable and conjecture, and ought to be totally
" neglected or abandoned to the industry and credulity of antiquaries. Truth begins to
"dawn in the second period [from 843 A.D. to 128(5] with a light, feeble at first,
THE PREFACE. vil.
" but gradually increasing ; and the events which then happened may be slightly touched,
"but merit no particular or laborious inquiry. In the third period [from 1286 to
" 1542] the history of Scotland, chiefly by means of records preserved in England,
" becomes more authentic ; not only are events related, but their causes and effects
" are explained ; and here every Scotsman should begin not to read only, but to study
"the history of his country. During the fourth period [from 1542 to 1603] the
" affairs of Scotland were so mingled with those of other countries, that its history
" becomes an object to foreigners. — The following history is confined to the last of
" these periods."' Thus far the historiographer royal, who thus tells, in specious
terms, what part of the annals of his country ought to be wintten, and what ought to
be read.
Yet the late Lord Hailes, when he wrote his "Annals of Scotland from the
" Accession of Malcolm III.," pushed his inquiries far into the obscure regions of the
second period, which is indicated by the royal historiographer. Nay, he even went back
to the accession of Dimcan, in 1034 A.D., declaring, however, " that the history of
" Scotland, previous to that period, is involved in obscuiity and fable." The critics
of his country cried out with alacrity, " Thus has his lordship happily freed from
" fable the whole reign of Malcolm Canmore ! " In this manner, then, were left a
thousand years of obscurity and fahle to my " credulity and industry as an antiquary,"
to enlighten the one and to dispel the other. Yet I doubt whether any writer can be
fairly charged with credulity who reduces his historical topics to moral certainty, or fitly
accused of fabulousness, who ascertains his facts by a comparison of charters with
circumstances. Id est certum, gvod certimi reddi j^ofest": Eveiy thing is certain which
may be made certain. Buchanan did not know who built the Roman wall between
the Forth and the Clyde ; but Camden, by throwing his antiquarian eyes on the lapideous
records which had been dug from its foimdation, ascertained that curious fact. Nor is
there any thing more certain in any period of the Scottish histoiy, than the Roman tran-
sactions in North-Britain, as they have been now investigated, and at length ascertained.
In them there are much less debate and certainty than in the history of Mary Stewart
and her eon.
The Society of Edinburgh for the Encouragement of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactiu-es,
ofiered, in 1756, a <jold medal " for the best history of the Roman, and afterwards of
" the Saxon conquests and settlements to the north of Sevenis's wail." But the
scholars of Scotland remained sluggish and silent. And I now submit to the reader's
judgment a history of both those interesting events. The same Society offered a gold
medal "for the best account of the rise and progress of commerce, arts, and manu-
factures in North-Britain." But the scholars of Scotland remained inert, and uncom-
municative of what they did not know ; and I presume to submit such an account
of the origin of commerce, arts, and manufactures to the curious eye of inquisitive
men, I come, however, too late to claim the gold medals. And I fear the hist of that
Society expired with the recent deaths of Sir WilUam Pulteney and the Earl of Roselin !
But T may shelter myself under the authority of the most learned, the most intelligent,
b2
viii. THE PREFACE.
aud the most accomplished meu in Scotland, who offered those prizes, from the charge of
folly in treating of tiifles, aud from the sueer of self-sufficiency for scribbling of events
which ment no jxirticular inquiry.
I was ambitious, I wall avow, to offer my coimtrymen the ancient history of Scotland,
elaborated into detail, and illustrated into light, without regarding previous opinions
or fearing contentious opposition ; without dreading difficvilties or apprehending disap-
pointment. I have divided my work, without regardiug fantastical conceits of fabulous
epochs, into such periods as were analogous to the genuine history of each successive
people. The Roman pe7iod, extending from Agricola's arrival in North-Britain,
A.D. 80, to the abdication of the Roman authority in A.D. 44G, forms the first book,
from its priority in time, as well as precedence in importance. In discussing this
interesting subject I was not content with previous authorities. I engaged intelhgent
persons to siuwey Roman roads, to inspect Roman stations, and to ascertain doubtful
points of Roman transactions. I have thus been enabled to correct the mistakes of
former wiiters on these curious topics. Much perhaps cannot be added to what has
been now ascertained, with respect to the engaging subject of the first book. Yes, since
Caledonia was sent to the press, a discovery of some importance has been made. A
very slight doubt remained whether the Burghead of Moray had been a Roman
station, as no Roman remains had there been found; but this doubt has been
completely solved by the recent excavation, within its limits, of a Roman bath.
The first Chapter of the following work will be foxmd to be as much the first chapters
of the annals of England and of Ireland, as it is of Scotland. The Pictish period
naturally succeeds the former Book, as it extends from the Abdication of the Romans,
in A.D. 4i6, to the overthrow of the Picts, in A.D. 843. It will be found to com-
prehend interesting events: The affairs of the Picts; the fate of the Romanized
Britons ; the an-ival of the Anglo-Saxons on the Tweed ; the adventures of the Scandi-
navians in the Orkney aud Western Isles; the colonization of Argyle by the Scots
from Ireland. It is the business of the Pictish period to trace the singular history of all
those people, various as they were in their lineages, throughout the different events of
their obscm-e warfare, and the successive turns of their frequent changes. Add to those
topics of pecuhar interest the introduction of Christianity, which in every age and in
eveiy country has produced such memorable effects. The Scottish period, forming the
third Book; and extending from A.D. 843 to 1097, will be found to comprehend historic
topics of equal importance : The tmion of the Picts and Scots into one kingdom ; the
amalgamation of the ancient Britons of Strathclyde ^vith both; the colonization of
Galloway by the Irish ; the annexation of Lothian to the Scottish kingdom ; the history,
both civil aud ecclesiastical, of all those people of various races, with notices of their
antiquities, their languages, their learning, their laws ; all these form historical matters
of singular interest to rational curiosity if they be investigated from facts in contempt
of fabulosity. The fourth Book contains the Scoto-Saxon j^eriod, which extends from
A.D. 10'J7 to 130(5, and which details many notices of varied importance. At the first
and at the second of those epochs, momentous revolutions took place, though they have
passed unnoticed by the Scottish historians, and were vmknown to the historiogi-apher
T H E P R E F A C E . ix
royal. With this period began a uew dynasty of kings, who introduced new people, new
manners, new usages, and new establishments. In this period the Saxon colonization
of proper Scotland was begun. In this period was the Scotican church reformed. In
it was introduced the municipal law of North-Britain, in the place of Celtic customs.
In this period originated her agriculture, her commerce, and shipping and fishery,
her manufactures and her coins. The beginning of this period formed the pivot on
which tiu-ned the Celtic government of ancient ages, and the Anglo-Norman polity of
subsequent times. Yet is it of a period so crowded with changes, and so var-ied with
novelties, that the late historiographer royal says, " the events which then happened
"may be slightly touched, but mei-it no particular inquiry." But I have dwelt on
those revolutions and have marked every change. By a vast detail from the Cliavtu-
laries in respect to the civil history, from 1097 to 1306, to the ecclesiastical annals,
to law, to manners, and to domestic economy, I liave tried to ascei-tain every interesting
circumstance, and to render the national annals of that interesting period quite familiar
to every reader ; and to give completeness to the whole are added supplemental views
of subsequent times, which have their details to instruct, and their curiosity to amuse.
Such is the plan which I have formed and essayed to execute for reforming and
ascertaining the ancient history of North-Britain, which has been so long distorted by
controversy, obscured by fable, and disregarded by fastidiousness.
It is the common complaint of intelhgent readers that there is nothing neio in
history, as the same facts are again served up in different forms with some inter-
spertions of sentiment. It is very seldom, indeed, that any history contains so many
new facts, new discoveries, and new documents, as the following Account of North-
Britain discloses. What can be more novel than ascertaining the aborigines of the
country, by proofs which are as curious in themselves as they are decisive in their
inferences. Roman camps in North-Britain had been already brought before the
curious eye; but it is quite new to show their location amidst the prior forts of the
Britons for some hostile purpose. Roman roads and Roman stations had been
before mentioned by tourists and traced by antiquaries ; but it is altogether new to
investigate their poHcy, and to form the whole of the Roman transactions in Caledonia
into a connected body of genuine history during four interesting centuries. The Picts
had been sometimes casually mentioned ; but it is quite a novelty to give the histoiy
of the Pictish people, their lineage, their language, their antiquities. It was known
from Bede that the Picts had defeated and slain the Northumbrian Egfrid in the battle
of Nectan's Mere; but it is altogether new to ascertain the true site of that conse-
quential conflict. The genuine chronology of the Scotish kings, their civil wars, their
hostilities with the Picts, the Scottish laws and hterature are all novelties. The colonization
of Scotland by the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans, and Flemings, comprehending the
origin of the Stewarts and the descent of the Douglases is quite new. The history of
law during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, including the origin and epoch of
the Rer/iam Majestnfem ; the histoiy of manners in this period ; the account of agriculture,
of manufactm-es, of ti'ade, and of the vaiious topics which are connected with them.
X. THE PREFACE.
are entirely new. The whole volume may be regarded as a novelty, consideriag its
arrangeiueut, its matter, and its documents. Few histories can be found wherein
there are so many charters called for, so many records avouched, so many facts
ascertained, and so many documents quoted.
Yet this volume, which comprehends the history of so many people during ages of
darlcuess, does not comprehend my whole plan for rectifying the annals and ascertaining
the antiquities of Caledonia. I propose to offer to the public three other volumes
successively, and soon, if my health and spirits should continue. As the present volume
has given the history of the several people, the next volume will form a DICTIONARY OF
Places, Chorogmj^Mcal and Philological, for the investigation of the various languages
which have been ever spoken within that country. This volume will be immediately
sent to the press. The two subsequent volumes will contain the local history of every
shu"e in Scotland, upon a new plan, and from the most authentic informations. The
materials for all these are already collected, and they are mostly all worked up ; so that
there is little to prevent me from sending the whole to the printers, except that I should
certainly feel this circumstance too fatiguing, and the public might perhaps regard it as
too repulsive. We must always remember with Milton that,
" God liatli set
" Labour and rest, as day and night, to men,
" Successive.
I will conclude with a passage from honest Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,
1605. " Abeit it may seeme unto some a rash, and unadvised attempt, that after so
" many the great, and woorthy labors of our learned antiquaries, a new work under the
" name of [Caledonia] should now be presented imto publyke view ; yet, when it
" shall have pleased the courteous reader to have considered of the contents of the
" chapters, I tiiist he will see, that the ensuing matter will be answerable to the fore-
" going title ; much of it being so extraordinary, and imwonted, that perhaps not any
" (especially of our nation) hath thereof written before. I know, I have herein made
" myself subject imto a world of judges, and am lykest to receive most controlement of
" such, as are least able to sentence me. Well I wot, that the works of no writers
" have appeared to the world, in a more curious age than this ; and that, therefore, the
"more ckcumspection and warynesse are required in the publishing of any thing
" that must endure so many sharpe sights and censures; the consideration whereof, as
" it hath made me the most heedy not to displease any, so hath it given me the less
"hope of pleasing all." After so long a preface I will beg leave to add only four
words :
" FACILnJS CARPERE
" QUAJI diitarl"
THE CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
The Roman Period — 80 a.d. 446.
Chap. I. Of the Aborigines of North Britain,
Chap. II. Of the North British tribes ; their topographical Positions ;
and Singular Antiquities.
Chap. III. Of Agricola's Campaigns.
Chap. IV. Of the Transactions of Lollius Urhicus,
Chap. V. Of the Campaign of Severus.
Chap. VI. Of the Treaty ivhich Caracalla made ivith the Caledonians ; of
the Picts ; of the Scots; Of the Abdication of the Eonian
Government.
BOOK II.
The Pictish Period — 446 a.d. 843,
Chap. I. Of the Picts ; their lineage ; their Civil History ; their language,
with a review of the Pictish Question.
Chap, II. Of the Romanized Britons of the Cumbrian Kingdom, in North
Britain.
Chap. III. Of the Saxons in Lothian.
Chap. IV. Of the Orkney and Shetland Isles,
Chap. V. Of the Western Isles or Hebrides.
Chap. VI. Of the Scots.
Chap. VII. Of the Introduction of Christianity.
Xll.
THE CONTENTS.
BOOK III.
The Scottish Period — 843 a.d. 1097.
Chap. I, Of the Union of the Picts and Scots.
Chap. II. Of the Extent and Names of the United Kingdoms.
Chap. III. Of the Orkney and Shetland Isles.
Chap. IV. Of the Hebndes or Westeim Isles.
Chap. V. Of Cumbria, Strathclyde, and of Galloway.
Chap. VI. Of Lothian during this Period.
Chap. VII. Of the Civil History of the Scots and Picts from 843 to
1097 A.D.
Chap. VIII. Of the Ecclesiastical History, during this Period.
Chap. IX. Of the Laws during this Period.
Chap. X. Of the Manners, Customs, and Antiquities during this
Period.
Chap. XI. Of the Learning and Language during this Period.
BOOK IV.
The Scoto-Saxon Period, from 1097 to 1306 a.d.
Chap. I. Of the Saxon ColonizcUion of North Britain during this
Period.
Chap. II, Of the Civil History during this Period.
Chap. III. Of the Ecclesiastical History driving this Period.
Chap. IV. Of the Law during this Period.
Chap. V. Of Manners during this Period.
Chap. VI. Of Commerce, Shipping, Coin, Agriculture during this
Period.
Chap. VII. A Supplemental View of subsequent times.
!*■ S. — This work is illustrated with a British Roman Map of Caledonia; with a Plan of
the Roman Camps at Normandykes, which is quite new to the curious reader ;
with a Plan of the Roman Fort at Clattering-bridge, that is also new ; with Sketches
of the Roman Tuessis on the Spey ; of the Roman Varis ; and of the British hill
fort on Ban-aldll; all which are now submitted to the Public for the first time.
AN
ACCOUNT
OP
NORTH-BRITAIN
BOOK I.
THE ROMAN PERIOD, A.D. 80—446.
CHAP. I.
Of the Aborigines of North - Britain.
The first Book naturally extends from the colonization of North-Britain
to the abdication of the Roman government. It will be found to contain
many matters of great importance. The investigation with regard to the
Aborigines is not only cm'ious in itself, but will comprehend, in its pro-
gress, sketches of the peopling of Europe,'of the history of the Celts, and of the
origin of the Goths ; topics these, which are intimately connected with that
investigation, either by original a,nalogy or by subsequent opinions. When it
shall be made apparent, by the most satisfactory evidence, who those Abori-
gines were, every inquiry must cease concerning the first settlers of North-
Britain. The reader, when every tribe who inhabited that country during
the first century of our common era shall be exhibited before his curious eyes,
must read, with more satisfaction and intelligence, the account of theii' strug-
gles in defence of their original land against their powerful invaders. The
campaigns of Agricola, the transactions of Urbicus, the conflicts of Severus,
the treaty of Caracalla, in four divisions, will conduct the diligent inquirer
Vol. I. B
2 , An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The R<,man Period.
about the afiairs of the Romans, in North-Brltam, through the Roman peinod,
from the arrival of the Romans, in a.d. 80, to their abdication in 446 A.D.
The Picts first, and the Scots afterwards, will merely appear in the dawn of
their obscure histories, when they were scarcely known to classic authors
under those celebrated names. It is the common complaint of well-informed
readers that there is nothing novel in history. It must be the business of this
first period of the North-British annals to introduce new notices, and to
inculcate uncommon truths ; to spread out before the inquisitive eye the
geograpliical position of the Aboriginal tribes, with their natural antiquities,
as they are evidenced by remains ; and to settle on immoveable foundations
the itineraries, the roads, and stations of the Romans, while their empire was
at its greatest extent in North-Britain ; illustrating the obscurity of their
relics, and explaining the objects of their policy : Yet, must all those topics
be introduced to the attention of the more judicious reader by retrospections
to the pristine ages, and by sketches of the first movements of the most
illustrious nations.
In the history of every people the dispersion of the human race ought to be
considered as the earliest epoch. To that event the various tribes owe their
discrimination and their origin (a). Then it was " that mankmd were di-
" vided in the earth, after the flood, after their tongues, in their countries,
" and in their nations." {h). Chronology has fixed the epoch of the dispersion
seventeen hundred and fifty-seven years after the creation, and two thousand
two hundred and forty-seven years before the birth of Christ (c). When the
mind contemplates those dates, it becomes familiarized with the most distant
objects by the steadiness of its own views ; and it gains fresh energy while it
makes the most difiicult inquiries by the constant exercise of its own powers.
The chief place of our regard as the preserver of the Patriarch, and as the
refuge of his issue, is Asia, the fairest quarter of the earth, where the sun of
(o) Bryant's Mj-tb., 3 v. 95.
(6) Genesis, cli. ] 0. The Scriptures, says Sir William Jones, after all his researches, contain,
independently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more important history, and finer strains
of eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass from all other books that were
ever composed. Asiatic Researches, v. iii. p. 15, 16. The President Goguet had already ex-
pressed a similar opinion on this interesting topic. There is nothing certain, he says, with regard
to the early annals of mankind but in the Scriptures. Moses, he adds, is the only guide in the
first peopling of countries. De L'Origine des Loix, «S:c. Li v. 1, art. v.
(c) Moore's Chron. Tables, lo9;j, p. 3 ; Helvicus Chron. Hist., p. 4 ; Usher's Chron.,
Geneva Ed., p. 5; Eak-igh's Hist. World, 1614, p. 132; Goguet's L'Orig. des Loix, torn. 1,
Table Chronologique ; Well's Hist. Geog., v. i. p. 378.
Ch . I.— The A borif/mef.] OfNORTH-BRITAIN. i
science first rose, and the arts of society were originally cultivated. On this
scene mankind began to multiply, and early commenced their career. The
most fruitful soil enabled the children of men to increase ; and a climate the
most pure called forth the energies of the human genius. In the progress of
settlement, and in the pursuits of ambition, empires successively arose ;
flourished for their several periods; and, from domestic weakness or from foreign
invasion, sunk into non-existence. While conquest, by extension enfeebled
the influence of her own success, the genius of commerce at length raised up
the Phenician people, who, cultivating the arts of peace, accumulated wealth
by their practice of every art, with characteristic perseverance. As the parent
and the instructor of nations, Asia will always appear, in the pages of history
venerable for her antiquities and respectable for her knowledge (d).
From Asia, meanwhile, went out the colonists who were destined to settle
Africa, to plant America, and to people Europe. If Asia were, indeed, the
nursery of mankind, every other quarter of the globe must necessarily have
been colonized by the superabundance of her populousness.
It is demonstrable that the west was peopled from the east ; allowing the
Hellespont to be the meridian. The track of colonization cannot be precisely
ascertained : but it is certain that Ion the son of Japhet, with his children,
found a temporary abode, after a short period of migration, near the shore of
the narrow strait which separates Asia from Europe (e). During the agita-
tions of mankind, their pursuits are not to be stopped by any barrier. The
curiosity which is natural to man, the restlessness that is incident to colonists,
urged the posterity of the Patriarch to cross the Hellespont in such vessels as
necessity would direct, and ingenuity provide (/). In this manner did the
children of Ion pass into Europe during a very remote age (g). This division
of the earth was already settled as we may learn from the intimations of Moses,
at the epoch of tlie Exodus, fourteen hundred and ninety-five years before
our common era (A).
('/) See the Asiatic Researches.
(e) Genesis, cli. 11 ; Josep. Antiq., L. 1, ch. 6 ; Goguet's L'Oiig. des Loix, torn. 1, p. 57.
(/) Many ages after that event five thousand Bulgarian horsemen had the courage to swim
across the Hellespont, without the aid of either float or bark. Geb. Monde Primit., 9 torn, xsxiii.
The narrowest part of the strait is scarcely a mUe broad.
((/) Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae, b. iii., ch. 3 ; Bedford's AnLmad. on Newton's Chron., p. 40.
The sons of Ion, or Javan, says Bryant, wei'e certainly the first colonists, who planted Greece.
Myth., 3 vol., p. 378 — 9. Javan is thought, says Shuckford, to have first planted Greece.
The Seventy were of this mind : and, they constantly translated the Hebrew woi-d Javan into
"EXXas, or Greece. Shuekf. Connect., v. 1., p. 1.58. Well's Hist. Geography, vol. i.. eh. 3.
(h) Usher, Bedford, Calvisius, Helvicus.
4 AnACCOUNT [Book l.—The Bmnan Fermi.
The period of the ancient Greeks commenced at the Exodus (i). The
patriarchal emigi-ants first occupied the nearest districts of that vast triangle
which is formed by the Danube on the north, the Egean sea on the east, and
the Adriatic on the west (k). In regions that offered to their inquiries every
advantage of soil, and every commodiousness of water, the original settlers
began to cultivate those districts, which, however sterile, for ages produced
in after times the fair fruits of valour, literature, and the arts. Whether it be
that childhood is captivated with the variety of adventiu'es, or that youth is
charmed by the allurements of letters, or that age delights in the lessons of
wisdom, it is certain that the annals of a coimtry which abundantly gratified
all those propensities, have found, in every period, many readei's.
Yet is the history of the aborigines of Greece involved in all the gloom of un-
certainty ; because it is confounded with all the misrepresentations of fiction (/).
Alas ! when the luminous torch of Moses ceases to blaze before our eyes, every
step of our inquiry must be made in the anxiety of darkness. The ablest of the
Greek writers neither knew the origin of their own ancestors, nor understood
the etymology of their own language (m). A few hints, indeed, were handed
down from the earliest times by means of doubtful traditions (n). But what
history could the first people have before there were events to record ; and what
etymology could they teach, before they had a formedlanguage to write ? From the
epoch of the dispersion to the era of the olympiads, nineteen centuries elajjsed;
whilst the aborigines of Europe were searching for places of repose. During that
long period, the children of Ion were continually in motion ; having chiefs to guide
their steps rather than rules to dkect their actions ; without the ease which
settlement only can give, or the security that polity alone can afford. The
paucity of events, during two thousand years of colonization, demonstrates their
original insignificance ; because in history want of incidents and want of
importance are the same. Their annalists, indeed, speak of tyrants who
enslaved the first people ; of heroes who freed them ; of legislators who ci-
vilized them ; while those tyrants, heroes, and legislators, only existed in the
strong remembrance of hatred, or in the feeble recollection of benefits.
It is apparent, however, from satisfactory notices, that during the first ages
colonization was accomjjlished by journies on land, rather than by enterprizes at
(0 Petavius Hist, of the World. (l) Geb. Monde Prim., torn. 1. p. 33.
(/) Bryant concurs with Stillingfleet in reprobating the early annals of Greece, as a congeries of
fable, mythology, and imposition.
(h») Goguet's LOrig. des Loix, tom. i., bk. 1 ; Bryant's Myth., vol. i., p. 30f>, vol. iii., p. 392.
(n) Geb. Monde Prim., tom. 9, p. 156.
Ch. I.— r fie Aborigines.'] Of NOE TH-BEIT AIN. 5
sea. While tlie ai't of ship-building was yet unknown ; while the nearest bays
were yet unexplored ; it was the direction of the countries along the course of
the rivers which conducted the unenlightened steps of the original emigrants. It
is extremely probable that western Europe was explored and settled by means
of the Danube and the Rhine ; these great rivers showed the natural openings
of the regions, and furnished the necessary accommodations to the settlers along
their banks.
In peneti'ating from the Euxine to the Ocean, the more adventurous colonists
easily explored and early planted Italy. The original people carried a strong
pruiciple of division along with them ; the nature of the country corresponded
with their genei-al habits : and, they formed many distinct settlements which
had no other connection between them than a common language, the same
worship, and similar customs. It was in a much later age that new migrants,
who were easily distinguished from the aborigines, crossed the Adriatic sea
from Arcadia, and formed fresh plantations ; which, as they gave rise to dis-
putes, necessarily produced events. A thousand years elapsed from the
settlement of Italy to the foundation of Home, while that fine country was yet
inhabited by several distinct tribes, which were again subdivided into clans
and towns that were connected only by a common origin, and joined
merely by political confederacies. Among those tribes the Latins, who occu-
pied the country between the Tiber and the Liris, were at that epoch con-
spicuous ; and became in after ages most pre-eminent, at least for their
language. After the Roman epoch, four centuries of bloody warfare contri-
buted, by the subduction of all those clans, to gratify the ambition and aug-
ment the greatness of Rome.
Whoever may be disposed to pause here, for the useful purpose of surveying
the eighth century befoi-e our common era, would see a new order of things
commence. The face both of the east and of the west was at once changed :
the Greeks established the Olympiads (o) ; Rome was founded Qj) ; the epoch
of Nebonassar took place (q) : the empire of the Assyrians, which had domi-
neered over Asia for thirteen hundred years sunk under its own weight ; and
the Chinese began to move. History at length attempted to free herself from
fable; and the heroes of antiquity fell back into their original obscurity as soon
as the sun of truth shot forth the irradiations of a clearer light on the dark
events of the most ancient times (r),
(o) In 776, A.A.C. (;*) In 75.3, A.A.C. (rj) In 747, A.A.C.
()•) Geb. Monde Prim.. 8 torn. p. 84. At those great epochs of universal history, the judicious
Prideaux began his Connection between sacred and profane history. Those early dates form one of
the epochs of Bossuet's Histoire Universelle. And those dates are called by the ingenious Ic Sage,
in his Atlas, Epoques liistoriqncs, when something like history begins to appear.
€ An A C C 0 U N T Book I.— The Roman Period
Aleantime, the impulse which had been given to the human race, at the epoch
of the dispersion, filled the European regions with people. The kindred tribes of
those colonists, who settled Greece and planted Italy, penetrated from the Euxine
to the Atlantic, and occupied the ample space from the Mediterranean to the
Baltic, and perhaps to the Frozen Sea (s). Yet, were not the aborigines of Europe,
who in subsequent ages acquired the name of Celtce, any where found in large
assemblages of men. While Asia and Africa show several examples of em-
pires vast and flourishing in the earliest times, we only see, among the Celts,
clans disconnected from habit, and feeble from dismiion. At the recent
period when the Romans entered Gaul, with whatever design of revenge or
conquest, that extensive country, the appropriate seat of the Celtic people, was
cantoned among sixty tribes who were little united by polity, and still less
conjoined by the accustomed habits of natural affection. Wherever we turn
our inquisitive eyes on the wide surface of Europe, we look in vain for a
Celtic empii-e, however the Celtic people may have agreed in their language,
in their worship, and in their customs. Yet, at the dawn of history, we see
the European nations who dwelt to the westward of those waters which flow
eastward to the Euxine, denominated the Celtce (t).
Disunited, however, as the Celtic clans were, and dispersed in their several
positions, they often made themselves felt. During the I'eign of the elder
Tarquin, if we may believe Livy, more than five centuries and a half before
our era, the Gauls luider Belovesus seized the country on the Po ; while an-
other swarm under Segovesus settled in Germany {u). Four hundred years
before our common era the Gauls invaded Italy in such a numerous body as
to evince the extent and populousness of the countiy whence they proceeded.
Breiinus their leader sacked Rome. They were repulsed by the genius of
Camdlus ; but they were not dismayed by their disaster. They again over-nvn
Italy by a second invasion. And it required all the valour and all the skUl of
the Roman armies to repress the daring of the Celtic people {x). The Gauls
(.<) The learned autliois of the Universal Ilistorij have diligently shewn what was sufficiently
probable in itself, that the Celtic nations peopled originally the whole extent of Europe,
vol. vi. p. 10, 13. Plutarch, in the Life of Camillus, speaks of the vast extent of the Celtic
countries ; stone monuments and tradition attest that they extended from the Baltic even to the
Northern Ocean.
(t) Herodotus, Melpomene ; Ptolomy ; and. among the east«m nations, says Selden, the tenn
. Celts was a general name, for all the Em-opeans : the Greeks applied the name to the western
Europeans. Tit. Hon. 8 Ed., p. 75.
(h) Bossuet Histoire Universelle, p. 41 ; M. le Comte du Buat's Histou-e Ancienne,
V. i. chap. 2.
(.r) Universal Hist., v. xi. p. 532 : ib. svlii. p. 004 ; ib. xi. p. .-)33— 4— 9.
Cli. I.— The Ahoriyines.'] OfNORTH-BRITAIN. 7
overspread Thrace, and plundered the temples of Greece, whatever genius and
force could be opposed to their inroads. They invaded Asia, which had
already acknowledged the superior character of European firmness and
discipline ; and which gave their irresistible invaders a settlement that was
long known by the vivid remembrance of their perseverance and their
prowess {y).
Those intimations of history seem to demonstrate that western Europe
throughout its wide extent was already filled with Celtic inhabitants. It was
the superabundance of its populousness which discharged itself, during suc-
cessive ages, in quest of plunder or in pursuit of settlement It is thus
apparent, from every notice of history and every specification of geography,
that the Celtce was the aboriginal people of Europe throughout its ample
limits (z). Yet, has it been debated by ingenuity and inquired by learning,
whether the Celtse or the Scythes were the most ancient people ; as if there
could be priority of origin while they were both descended from a common,
though distant origin. It is of much more importance to inquire when, and
on what occasion, the Celtee who were thus for ages the sole inhabitants, as
they were the original colonists of Eui'ope, became mingled with a dissimilar
people either by colonization or conquest.
A history of the Celtic nations has long been a, desideratum among intelligent
antiquaries. Such a work has, indeed, been essayed by Pelloutier: but,
hescreened in night, he so stumbled on his subject as to confound the Celts with
the Scythians (a). While the Mosaical account of the peojaling of Europe is so
distinct, who would plunge into the cloud of uncertainty which perpetually
hangs in ever-during darkness over the remote annals of the Scythes and
Scythia !
(y) See Petavius, and the Universal History.
(z) The Geographer Ortelius was so persuaded of the foregoing truths, that he considered the
names of Europe, and of Celtica, to be synon3rmous.
(a) " Les Celtes ont ete connus anciennement sous le nom gent?ral de Scythes." Such is the hal-
lucination of his first chapter ! From this opening, which is not quite consistent with the fact, it is
easy to perceive that he must constantly confound the ancient Celts with the modern Goths. The
ingenious vindicator of the ancient history of Ii-eland has also entangled his subject, and embarrassed
Ms readers, by connecting the Scythians with the Irish. Our erudite mjrthologist has shown, how-
ever, with his usual learning and research, that in ancient times there were tribes of Sc}-thes
in Asia, Africa, and in Europe. Ancient Mythol., vol. 3, p. 143, wherein he treats distinctlj-, of
the Scythce, Scythia, and Sc3'thismus. As Britain was undoubtedly peopled from Gaul, and Ireland
From Britain ; the early annals of our islands seem to have no relation to the Scythes and Scandi-
navians, who, like the Scandian Vikingr during the middle ages, infest our researches by the
frequency of their intrusions, and perplex our reasonings by the obscurity of their aberrations.
8 An A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
It is a singular circumstance in universal history, that the migration of the
second race of colonists throughout western Europe is much more obscure than
the i)rogress of the first. The torchof Moses lights the steps of the original settlers
of Europe, while every motion of the second emigrants is involved in peculiar
darkness. The silence of history seems to prove that the introduction of the
new people upon the old was made without any great change, which must
have been transmitted by tradition, and mucli less of warfare, that must have
been noticed by historiography. As language is the genealogy of nations,
philology may lend her aid : but it is geography which must exhibit to our unen-
lightened eyes the distant positions of the various people at successive epochs.
The pretensions of the Scythes have created confusion through every age.
They assumed so many shapes ; they appeared in so many places ; they arro-
gated such superior antiquity ; that inquiry has been bewildered in following
their steps, and judgment is perplexed in settling their pretensions. Bryant and
Gibbon, seem to concur in opinion that their name has been vaguely applied
to mixed tribes of barbarous nations in distant countries, during the expanse
of time. In this view of a curious subject it is in vain that paradoxical writers
attempt to ascertain the antiquities, to trace the progress, or to fix the chro-
nology of that devious people. Epochs of " the first Gothic progress over
" Europe " have, indeed, been assigned with more confidence than autho-
rity. And, in order to establish those fanciful epochs, the Scripture chronology,
which Kennedy has demonstrated to be morally certain, has been rejected for
a fictitious chronology that has been obtruded in the ajspropriate place of
" the Hebrew verity (6)."
Yet are we told, with the specious tongue of historic certainty, that the
first dawn of history breaks with the reign of Menes in Egypt, before Christ
4000 years (c). This fictitious reign is thus placed before the creation according
to Petavius, Calvisius, and Helvicus ; and four years after the creation accord-
ing to Usher, Dufresnoy, and Bossuet. (2.) The Scythians are said to have
conquered Asia 3660 years before the birth of Christ {d). This fabulous event
is thus placed several centuries before the dispersion of mankind, according to
Usher and Dufresnoy, Petavius, Calvisius, and Bossuet. (3.) Ninus, the first
monarch of the Assyrian empire, establishes that empire on the ruins of the
(l>) See a Dissertation on the origin and progress of the Scythians, or Goths, 1787 [By Pinkerton].
But the Scythian chronology say the learned authors of the Universal Histori/. after all their re-
searches, is not to be ascertamed. Vol. vi., p. 87. See, in the same volume, "the few fragments,
which "antiquity has left of the Scythians." There is, indeed, scarcely any thing but fable to be
related of the ancient S i/t/dann.
(c) Dissertation on the Scythians, 186. (d) lb. 187.
Ch. I.— The A horiyines.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 9
Scythian : and the Scythife evacuate Persia, and settle around the Euxine,
2160 years before the birth of Christ {d). These fictitious events are thus said
to have happened eighty-seven years after the dispersion, and eight and twenty
years after the settlement of Egypt, as we know from Usher ; and Ninus, as
we learn from Bryant and Gebelin, is merely a mythological personage like
the Gothic Odin. (4.) The Scythians are said to begin their settlements in
Thrace, lUyi-icum, Greece, and Asia-minor, 1800 years before the birth of
Christ (e). These settlements are thus made to begin four years before the
flood of Ogyges, according to Usher, Petavius, and Dufresnoy : yet, all those
settlements are said to have been completed 1500 years before the birth of
Christ [f). These fabidous settlements are thus stated to have been formed
only nine and twenty years before the flood of Deucalion, according to Usher and
Dufresnoy, and fifteen yeai-s according to Calvisius. (5.) Sesostris attacks the
Scythians of Colchis 1480 years before the birth of Christ {g). Sesostris is an-
other mythological conqueror, as we learn from Bryant and Gebelin. (G.) The
Scythians peopled Italy 1000 years before the birth of Christ (/;). This ficti-
tious event, aljoiit which history and chronology are silent, is thus said to
have happened during the age of Solomon, two hundred and forty-seven
years before the building of Rome {i). The Scythians on the Euxine are said,
however, to have held the supreme empire of Asia, by conquering Media 740
years before the birth of Christ {h). This event, for which there seems to be
some foundation, though it is mixed with much fable, happened more than a
century afterwards, according to Usher and Raleigh. (8.) Yet, the Scythians,
we are told, peopled Germany, Scandinavia, a great part of Gaul, and Spain,
500 years before Christ(Z).
{d) Id. (0 Id. (/) Id. (.-/) Id. Qi) Id.
(/) For the genuine letters and ancient language of Italy, see Gebelin's Monde Primitif. t. vi.
Disc. Prelim.
(k) Dissertation on the Sc^-thes. p. 187. This event is stated by chronology, in 634. A.C.
(/) Id. Herodotus, whose geogi-apliica! notices extend from 450 to 500 years before the birth
of Christ, included the inhabitants of western Europe, from the sources of the Danube, under the
general name of the Celtn: Rennel's Geog. Syst. of Herodotus, p. 42. Diodoms Siculus, whose
geoffi-aphical infonnations may be deemed Jive hundred i/enrs later, placed the Sc3-thians to the
eiiMivnrd of the Celtse. Id. Pliny concurred with Diodorus. Id. Eschylus, who was born forty
years befdre Herodotus, concurred with the father of history in his position of the Scythes on the
Euxine. See the Mem. Liter. 1730, p- 217, "of the situation of Sci/thi'V. in the age of Herodotus.
" by T. S. Bayer." Until we are better infoi-med with regard to the origin of the Sc3-thians, who
were attacked by Darius on the western shores of the Euxine ; until a specimen of their language
be produced : I shall not admit that either those Scythians or theii' descendants ever came into
western Europe.
Vol. I. C
10 AnACCOUNT [Book l.~Thc Roman Period.
We are now arrived, after a tedious march througli the ahsurdities of
fiction and the obHquities of prejudice, at an important period in the real
history of the Scjthic people and country which are undoubtedly ascertained.
The well known expedition of the Persian Darius against the European Scythians
took place at the beginning of the sixth century, before the birth of Christ (m).
He passed the Bospihorus into Thrace ; he crossed the Danube by another
bridge ; he pursued the flying Scythes along the loestern shoi-e of the Euxine to
the bank of the Wolga ; he followed them south-westward through the desert
to the Carpathian mountains ; and he was obliged to recross the Danube by
the same bridge while he was pursued by the Scythians (n). We thus per-
ceive that history concurs with geography in placing the European Scythians
on the north-western shores of the Euxine, from the Danube to the Don, at
the very period of 500 years before Christ, when system supposes them to have
inhabited Scandinavia and Germany, Gaul, and Spain (o). It is a fact, then,
that the Scythians continued at that epoch to live on the rivers and shores
of the Euxine, and not in western Europe. The Scythians still remained on
the Euxine more than a century and a half later than the age of Darius, during
the conquests of Alexander, whom they were studious to court, in 334 a.c. (^:>).
All attempts to trace the migrations of the Scythic people from the Pains
Mfeotus and the Euxine to the Baltic and the Atlantic have failed {q). These
migrations, as we may learn from the silence of history, if they were ever made,
(«() Usher places this expedition in 514 A.C; Prideaux conciu's with Usher; Petavius fixes
this epoch in 508 ; Dufresnoy places the building of the bridge over the Thracian Bosphorus, by
Darius, in 508 A.C.
(«) See Eennel's Map. in his Herodotus, No. iii.. facing p. 50, of Western or " Euxine Scythia,
" with the surrounding countries, and the march of Darius Hystaspes." And see the map in
Wells's Hist. Geog., v. 1, facing page 109. Arrian. bk. 1, ch. 3. And Gibbon concurs with all
these. Hist. v. iv. p. 355.
(o) Dissertation on the Scyths and Goths, p. 187. Herodotus, says this writer, p. 173 — 4,
places most of his Sc3rthians in Germany. The context of Herodotus might have shown him the
true position for his Scjrthians, which Arrian confirms. Bk. iv. ch. i. The safe line of demarcation
between the Celtce and the Scythians, during the successive periods of Darius and Alexander, is
the points of partition whence fiowed the waters in contrary direction, westward to the Atlantic,
and eastward to the Euxine.
(p) Id.
(rj) This difiicult task was attempted, indeed, in the dissertation on the Scythians or Goths,
ch. v., wherein "the progress of the Scythians into Scandinavia is especially considered." But, the
dissertator has failed, like other theorists who try to perform impossibilities. He acknowledges,
like the more learned and judicious writers of the Universal History, '-that the narrower the
"bounds to which we confine the knowledge of the ancients about Scandinavia, we shall be the
"nearer to the truth." Dissertation, p. 168.
Ch. I.— The .1 boru/iiies:] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 11
must have proceeded quietly, without the efforts of war, or the perturbations
of revohition. The chronology of such migrations cannot possibly be fixed, if
they ever existed. If, however, we compare the notices of Eschylus and
Herodotus with the much more recent intimations of Diodorus and Pliny, we
shall be convinced that the Gothic migrations westward did not happen much
more than a century before the Christian era. But, whether Scythic or
Gothic migrations came into Western Europe at that recent period, they arrived
too late to augment the populousness of the original tribes, much less to change
the Celtic laufjuaere of the British isles.
That Gothic colonists came into Western Europe, from whatever country, at
some period, we know from the prevalence of their speech, which has almost
superseded the aboriginal tongue. But, whence came they ? is a question that
has been often asked ; yet has not hitherto been answered (r). With a view to
that question, we must throw our inquisitive eyes over the instructive course of the
Danube, from its spring among the Celtse to its issue into the Euxine among
the Getse (s). There, we may see, on the banks of the Danube, Dacia, the
country of the Daces, Getia, the region of the Getes, and Moesia, which in
after ages gave subsistence and a name to the Moeso-Goths. On the northern
side of the Danube flowed the sister stream of the Tyras, which gave rise to
the name of the Tyro-Goths, who lived either upon its banks or within its
isles ; and who in subsequent times were denominated by Ptolomy the Tyran-
Goths. In his time the appellation of Goths, by the philological changes of
seven centuries, had displaced the more ancient name of Getes : and there can,
therefore, be no reasonable doubt whether the Goths were any other than the
same people who in more early times had been known by the kindred de-
signation of Getes and Daces {t). Thus, the Goths, the Tyro-Goths, and
the Moeso-Goths, the Dacians, and the Getes, were the same people, who,
like other barbarous tribes in successive ages and in varying situations, were
differently denominated by writers who viewed them in different lights.
(;•) One of tlie latest and ablest inquirers about tlie orvjiti of the Goths is Gibbon. As be does
not admit the Mosaic account of the dispersion and the subsequent migrations of mankind, he knows
not liow to trace the dubious descent of the Gothic people. He is disposed to consider Scandi-
navia as their original country : yet, he durst not say, as J. Csesar had said before him, of the
Britons, that they had grown like meaner matter from the virgin earth. Gibbon is glad to
find the Goths on the Vistula at the epoch of Christ, though he is unable to ascertain whence
they came.
(•>•) See the Geograph. Antiqua, Tab. ix., the map of Paunonia, Illjnicum, Moesia, and Dacia.
(t) Pliny says, that the Getae were called by the Romans Daci, lib. iv.. c. 12 ; see Stephanus's
Diet, in vo. Getm. Yet, in Pliny's age, the name of Goths had scarcely displaced the ancient ap-
C 2
12 4- N A C C 0 U N T [Book. I.— The Roman Period.
The Gothic tribes, however denominated, formed one of the aboriginal people
of Europe. On this event history is silent ; but philology is instructive.
The Gothic language is certainly derived from a common origin with the most
ancient languages of the European world ; the Greek, the Latin, and the
Celtic {u). Ancient Thrace, comprehending Getia, Dacia, and Moesia, was
the original country of the Goths. Every inquiry tends to demonstrate that
the tribes who originally came into Europe by the Hellespont, were remark-
ably difierent, in their persons, their manners, and their language, from those
people, who, in after ages, migrated from Asia by the more devious course
ai'ound the northern extremities of the Euxine and its kindred lake. This
striking variety must for ever evince the difference between the Gothic and the
Scythic hordes, how-ever they may have been confounded by the inaccuracy of
some writers, or by the design of others {x).
Long after Western Europe had been occupied by the Celtse, the Gothic
people still appeared within their original settlements (y). During the fifth
pellation ; and the Gothic people were but little known in that age by their new designation.
The fii'st appearance of the Goths, as a great and united people, was in the year 2.50, A.D.,
when they were felt by the Roman empu-e : in 328, A.D., the Gothic empire on the Danube
was formed by Hennanrick ; and was destroyed by the Huns : in 375, a.d.. the Huns from the
borders of China chased the Alans from the Black sea ; overpowered the Goths ; and sapped the
foundations of Borne. Writers who mention those several hordes do not sufficiently advert to
those recent epoc/is.
(u) Geb. Monde Primitif, t. ix., p. 41 — 51 ; Schilter's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum ;
Wachter's Glossarium Germanieum : these vastly learned authors demonstrate, without intending
it. that the Celtic and Teutonic languages had a common origin.
(.(■) This interesting investigation has been very learnedly discussed by the ingenious, and erudite
William Clarke, in his Connexion of Coins. (1.) Even as early as the revival of learning in
Europe, scholars observed a great similarity of the Greek and the Teutonic tongues. But neither
Hem-y Stephens, Joseph Scaliger, nor Camden draw any inference from tlie fact which so forcibly
struck their cmious eyes : and it was Salmasius, Francis Junius, and Meric Casaubon who first
inferred that the Greek and Gothic languages, which were so similar in many respects, must have
undoubtedly come from a common parent. (2.) Yet, was it reserved for Salmasius to assume,
with modest erudition, that people speaking the same language must necessarily be descended from
a common stock. De Hellen, p. 364. This evidence of speaking the same tongue may be acknow-
ledged, says the very intelligent Clarke, as one of the surest proofs of original descent. Connexion,
p. 77. (3.) That the Getae were undoubtedly Thracians was observed by Herodotus. L. iv. c. 93.
That the Getae, Daci, and Gothi, were but different appellations for the same people was strongly
intimated by Strabo. V. 1, p. 466. That the Germans and Goths were sister nations, is a con-
clusion which results from their, common language. (4.) The same circumstances led il. de
Gebelin to the same conclusions on this curious subject, during om- own times, in opposition to
M. d'Anville, who was a geographer but not a philologist. Monde Prim., t. is., § 7.
(//) Well's Hist. Geog., v. 1, the map prefixed to p. 10'.); Bayer's Dissert, in Mem. Lit. 1750,
p. 211—259 ; Gebel. Monde Prim., t. ix., p. xlix.
Ch. I.— The Aborigines.'} OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 13
century, before our common era, they inhabited the western shores of the
Euxine on the south of the Danube. The Gothic people were found in that
position by Darius when he crossed the Hellespont and the Danube in pur-
suit of the unsettled Scythians (z). The Gothic people felt his power, but
maintained their possessions. They remained within Thrace, their pristine
country, when Xenophon, a century later, finished the retreat of the ten
thousand among the Thracian tribes, who acknowleged the Greeks as a
kindred people. The Gothic nations still remained within their ancient do-
minions, when Alexander was preparing to invade Asia, a hundred and seventy
years from the invasion of Darius, one of the earliest epochs of European
history («). Asia had hitherto predominated over Europe : Europe began now
to domineer over Asia, when the superiority of Europeans over Asiatics was
at length felt : and the grim visage of war during that memorable period
turned steadfastly to the opulent weakness of the eastern regions. The jjages of
history are crowded with the continual enterprizes which resentment, or am-
bition, or avarice, pi-ompted Greece and Macedon, and other nations of
Europe, to send against the less hardy and worse informed people of Western
Asia. Thus, during the effluxion of five centuries from the epoch of Darius's
expedition, there does not appear an event which could have contributed to
force the Gothic inhabitants on the Euxine and the Danube, in any great
bodies, to remove westward, in search of new settlements on the Rhine and
the ocean.
If the Gothic people continued to dwell on the Euxine and the Danube
during the active age of Alexander, the same people could not have resided at
the same period on the Atlantic and the Rhine : if the Gothic people did not
reside at that epoch in Western Europe, they could not have emigrated thence
to the British isles at some period three centuries before our common era.
When, and on what occasion, and by what route, the Goths, with their asso-
ciates, moved westward from their ancient settlements, are questions which
the united scholars of Europe have been unable to answer. History has not
always disdained to supply the defect of events Ijy the fictitious adventures of
mythological characters {h). The credulity of Gassiodorus, the ignorance of
(i) Herodotus, Melpomene : Plin}-. 1. iv., ch. 9 ; Count Je Buuts Hist. Ancienne des People
de L'Europe. g. 1, cli. 1 — 8.
(a) Arrian, bk. i. cb. 3, bk. iv. cli. 1 ; Q. Cui-tius ; De Buat's Hist. Ancienne, t. 1, ch. 1 — 8.
(J>) Even Gibbon has not hesitated to introduce the fabulous adventures of the mythological
Odin into serious history. The (hinons of Eudbeck. and the ijiuats of Torfaeus, are plainly the
obscure representatives of the Celtic ahori(jiiies of Scandinavia. The good sense of Mascou preserved
14 An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Juinaudes, the fastidiousness of Gibbon, concur in supposing tliat the Goths
were indigenes of Scandia (c). We know that the Gothic tribes were not
indigenous plants of that sterile soil : and the questions must ever be asked
when, and from whence, did the Gothic people migrate into Scandia. Yet
does fable, taking the place of history, send out the Goths, from that storehouse
of nations, at the Christian era, to conquer and to colonize the world. When
Gibbon has conducted the enterprising Goths from Sweden, by an easy voyage
across the Baltic to the Vistula, at that era, he is induced, by an intimation
of Tacitus, to cry out in the midst of his reveries, " Here, at length, we land
" on firm and historic ground I " (d). He might have easily found other
writers of as much knowledge and equal authority, who placed the Gothic
people at the same period on the Euxine (e). The fact seems to be that there
were Gothic tribes, at the Christian era, spread out in a scanty populousness
among the aborigines from the Euxine to the Atlantic. The silence of history,
and the unconsciousness of tradition, evince that the migrations of the Gothic
people had been made ^vithout the perturbations of violence, in the progress of
colonization. From the notices which have been collected with regard to the
Germans, who were a Gothic tribe with a new name, it is apparent that they
Mm from tlie reproach of writing nonsense or fiction with regard to the antiquities of Germany :
he considers the Gothic people as the first settlers of his country, though they were apparently
only the second : they obviously came in on the Celtic aborigines ; as we learn from J. Csesar and
Tacitus ; from Schilter, and Wachter.
(c) Hist, V. i., p. 387 — 397. The learned Cassiodorus, and his abridger Jornandes, were the
masters who taught the historians of the middle age to derive every people, however different,
from the Scandinavian hive. With regard to the origin of nations, the silence and loquacity of
histor}' are equally uninsti-uctive. It is a maxim that the populousness of every country must be
in proportion to the constant supply of its food. The dreary forests and uncultivated wastes of
the Scandinavian regions preclude the notion of these desert countries having ever been the
nfjicina (jentium, except in the systems of theory, or in the misrepresentations of fabulists.
{d) Hist., V. i., p. 392.
(e) Pliny, lib. iv., c. 11 ; Mela, 1. 11, c. 2. Gibbon was aware that Ovid, being banished
by Augustus to Tomi near the southern branch of the Danube, lived long among the Daces,
a Gothic people whose Gothic tongue the poet learned. Ovid wrote a poem which he addressed
to Augustus, in the Gotldc language. When Ovid resided at Tomi, in a.d. 1 1 . there were only
two tongues (except the Greek) heard on the Western side of the Euxine ; the (letie. and the
Saniiatic ; which were diversely spoken by two nations who were different in their origin, and still
more distinct in the course that conducted them into Europe. See Clarke's Connexion of the
Eoman, Saxon, and English Coins, p. 4.5 — 17.
Ch. I.— n^ Ahon^/me>'] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 15
were recent settlers among an ancient people {/). The other Gothic tribes can-
not boast a more early settlement in Western Europe (g).
Meantime, the original impulse which had been given to mankind peopled
the British Islands during the most early times. The stone monuments, which
still appear to inquisitive eyes in Britain and Ireland, evince that the first settle-
ment of those islands must have been accomplished during the pristine ages of the
post-diluvian world, while only one race of men existed in Eiu'ope, and while
a second impulse had not yet induced various people to quit their original settle-
ments in Asia. As the current of colonization during those times constantly
flowed from the east to the west ; as the isles were necessarily colonized from
their neighbouring continents ; Britain must undoubtedly have been settled
from adjacent Gaul, by her Celtic people (h). J. Ctesar and Tacitus agree
in representing the religion, the manners, the language of Gaul, and of Britain,
to have remained the same, when those curious writers cast their intelligent
eyes on both those countries (i). But, it is the facts which are stated by ancient
authors more than their opinions, respectable as they may be for their dis-
cernment and veracity, that ought to be the grounds of our conviction. The
religion and manners of the two countries remained the same during ten
centuries : their pristine language has continued the same in several districts
to the present day. Britain, indeed, was a mirror of Gaul at the recent pe-
riods when the Romans invaded the British shoi'es. The several tribes were
( /') Tacitus. Maseou. and Gribbon, severally attest tlie tnith of that representation : ami
Cluverius, when he delineates ancient Germany as a region of uncultivated lands, rugged moun-
tains, vast woods of horrible aspect, and stinking fens, suflSciently proves its late settlement by a
new people of rude manners. When J. Caesar and Tacitus speak of Celtic colonies proceeding
from Gaul into Germany, they only confound those recent colonies with the ancient people, who
appear to have been unknown to those celebrated writers. Strabo, who was not well infoi-med
with regard to Western Europe, acquaints us, indeed, that the JJaci cih antiqiio of old lived
towards Germany, around the fountains of the Danube. V. 1, p. 446. If his notion of aiitiqxiti/
extended to the age of Herodotus, we might learn from the father of history that the Danube
had its springs among the Ce/tcc.
(if) Rudbeck. and Torfaeus. had already proved this position when they scribbled of (hmcn.f
and ijiantK.
(li) Schoephlin's Vindicice Celticcp, § L.. with his authorities, and facts.
(?) J. Cses. de Bel. Gal. 1. v. c. 2 : Tacitus Agiic. § 11. "The present age," says Gibbon,
•• is satisfied with the simple and rational opinion that the islands of Great Britain and Ireland
were gradually peopled from the adjacent continent of Gaul. From the coast of Kent to the
extremit}' of Caithness, and Ulster, the memory of a Celtic origin was distinctly preserved, in the
perpetual resemblance of language, reUgion. and of manners." Hist, of the Decline and Fall of
the Eom. Em., 8vo ed., v. iv., p. 291.
It;
An account [Book l.— TIie Roman Pn-iod.
united by a polity which allowed but slight ties : they j^ractised the same reli-
eious customs : they were actuated by the same personal habits : they spoke a
conunon lanc--uao-e : but, we see nothing of a body politic which fastened the
disunited clans by the kindred bonds of civil society. Neither does there
appear, within the narrow outline of their affairs, any event either of warfare
or colonization, which would lead a discerning observer to perceive that their
principles had been corrupted, their habits altered, or their speech changed, by
the settlement among the aborigines of a new people.
Yet, has it been supposed by some, and asserted by others, that Belgic
colonies emigrated to Britain, and occupied no inconsiderable portion of her
south-eastern shores, three hundred years before the birth of Christ [k). Tf
the Belgic colonists were of a Teutonic race, this supposition would settle them
in Britain before the Teutonic tribes had sat down in Western Europe (I). If
the Belgic colonists were a Celtic people, it is of little moment whether they
came from Germany or Gaul, as they must have spoken a Gaelic and not a
Gothic tongue. The topography of the five Belgic tribes of Southern Britain
has been accurately viewed by a competent surveyor ; and the names of their
waters, of their head-lands, and of their towns, have been found by his inqui-
sitive inspection to be only significant in the Celtic tongue {m). I have followed
his track in searching for Gothic appellations ; and finding only Gaelic names
of people and places, I concur with hini in opinion that the British Belgce were
of a Celtic lineage («). It is even probable that the Belgse of Kent may have
(/i) Dissertation on the Scythians, p. 187.
(/) This inquiry, with regard both to the lineage and colonization of the Belgae in Britain, has
arisen, by infeience rather than by direct information, from J. Csesar, when he speaks of thfe
Belgse as occupying one third of Gaul, and as using a different tongue from the other Gauls.
De Bel. Gal.. 1. i.. c. 1. Yet, from the intimations of Livy and Strabo, Pliny and Lucan, we
may infer that J. Csesar meant dialect when he spoke of language. He ought to be allowed tb
explain his own meaning by his contest. He afterwards says that the Belgae were chiefly de-
scended from the Germans ; and passing the Ehino. in ancient times, seized the nearest country
of the Gauls. lb. lib. ii. c. 4. But, JJei-many, as we have seen, was possessed by the Celtae ih
ancient times; it was occupied by them 500 years A.c; it was occupied by them 330 years a.c:
and it was occupied by them 112 years A.O.; when the Oimbri is supposed to have made an
iiTuption from the Elbe to the Ehine ; and when those migratory people were repulsed by the
Belgae, as we learn, indeed, from J. Caesar himself. Germany continued to be occupied by Celtic
tribes during the subsequent century when it was described by Tacitus. See his Treatise on
the manners of the Germans: and the same fact, or rather inference from the fact, is more strongly
stated by Schilter, and by Wachter, in their elaborate Glossaries.
(//() Genuine Hist, of the Britons, p. 83 — 145. [By Rev. John Whitaker. Lond. 1772.]
(/() In every question with regard to our topography in those early times, Ptolomy must be
our useful instructor : from him we learn that three of those Belgic tribes are named Carnabii
Ch. I.— The A boriijines.'] OfNORTH-BRITAIN. 17
obtained from their neighbours, the Belgae of Gaul, their GaeUc name ; and even
derived such a tincture from their mtercourse, both in their speech and their
habits, as to appear to the undistinguishing eyes of strangers to be of a doubtful
descent. In the meantime the name of the Belgce was derived from a Celtic and
not a Teutonic origin. The root is the Celtic Bel; signifying tumult, havoc,
war : Bela, to wrangle, to war ; Belae, trouble, molestation ; Belawg, apt to
be ravaging ; Belg, an overwhelming, or bursting out ; Belgiad, one that over-
runs, a ravager, a Belgian ; Belgws, the ravagers, the Belgse (o).
Daiiinii, and Cautce : we find also the Cainabii. in Cheshii-e, and Shropsliire, and the Carnabii,
and Dainnii, in North-Britain, and also the Damiiii, in Ireland : there are the Cant(e, in North-
Britain, who, as well as the Belgic Cantoi, in Kent, derived their significant name from the
districts which they inhabited ; being the British Caint, signifying the open country. The rivers, in
the country of the Belgae, have the same Celtic appellations, as those in the other parts of Britain ;
such as the I.yca, which led Lhuyd astray, the Alauna, the Duriiis, the Ahoua, the l\(mesa, and
the Tamara : there are other rivers, in different parts of Britain, named Iscn and Esica, which
derive their names from the Gaelic Ease, signifpng water: the Belgic Alauna, as well as the
Alauna, in Northumberland, and the Alauna, in Perthshire, derive their name from the British
Alwen, which, like the analogous Alain of the GaeHo, signifies the bright or clear stream: Durius is
merely the latinized Dur, which, in the British and Irish, signifies water, and gives names to
several rivers in Britain and in Ireland ; the Aboiia. as well as the Abona river in the country
of the Cantae, in North-Britain, and the Avona river in the country of the Iceni, derive their
names from the Biitish Avon, being the Iiish Ablian, signifying a river. The Taniesis, and the
Tamer, derived their names from the British Taw, Tarn, Tern, Gaelic TamJi, signifying what
expands or spreads, or what is cahn : the other British rivers named Tame, Tave, Tavy, and Taw,
derive their appellations from the same source. The names of many of the Belgic towns end
in Dun, or Dun-um ; as Duwim, liondiauiii, Yinchnuni, ^hlsvlunum : this termination equally
appears, in the names of other towns, in different parts of Britain ; as Ga,raelodimnm. Higsbdunum,
Mari'/'(/«H7rt. &c. ; and, Dunum is the name of the chief town of the Cauci, in Ireland, which is
asserted to be a Belgic tribe : now. Dunum, and Dinum, are the latinized form of Dun, and Din,
which, in the British and Irish, as well as in the ancient Gothic, signify a fortified place : the Dan,
and Din. appear in the names of several towns in Gaul and in Spain. Tha towns of the proper
Belgae are named Uxela, and Venta : now, Uxela is the latinized form of the British Uchel,
signifying hiijh, lofty: and the same British word, which is still retained in the OcAiY-hiUs, also
appears in the names of the Uxellnm promontorium, a point, at the mouth of the Humber, in the
U.eelluni, a town of the Selgovae, in the Uxellum-Montes among the Novantes, in the Uxellnm-
Montes among the Cantae, in Ross. Venta was also the name of the chief town of the Cenomani,
in Norfolk : and all the Venta.^ derived their names from the British Gwent, which, in composition,
is Went, signifying the open country : and thus was the British Went latinized Venta. Such, then,
is the significant sameness, between the names of the Belgic tribes, their rivers and towns, in
Sovith-Britain, and those in every other part of the same island : all are indisputably Celtic, and
all are descriptive, in the British and GaeUc languages ; and, such are the jMts which stand op-
posed to the doubtful authorities of ancient and modem times.
{o) See Owen's Welsh Diet, in Art. The root of this word does not appear in anv of the
Vol. I, D
18 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Rmiuin Period.
If the nearest shores of Britain were colonized from the neighbouring con-
tinent, we might easily be convinced, that Ireland must have been originally-
peopled from the nearest promontories of Great Britain, if fable, and system,
and self-conceit, had not brought emigrants to the sacred isle from every
country except the parental island. It is morally certain that Western
Europe was originally settled by the Celtic people. Gaul, Spain, and Britain,
remained in possession of Celtic tribes when Rome successively conquered
those several regions. As there were no indigenes in Europe whatever Gibbon
might think or Tacitus might talk ; as the stream of colonization ran from the
east of Europe to the westward, Ireland, lying to the west of all those countries
within the bosom of Britain, must have been settled by her children in the
subsequent age to the peopling of Gaul, Britain, and Spain {p). All the pro-
babilities, then, are in favour of the reasonable proposition which refers the
population of Ireland to the people of Britain.
With regard to this curious subject the taciturnity of history, and the
loquaciousness of archaeology are equally uninstructive. Yet, amidst this
obscurity, topography offers her informations to those inquirers after truth
who can listen patiently to her lessons. The most early maps of Ireland are
Ptolomy's Table and Richard's Supplement, which exhibit the names of
places and of waters in that island during the second century : these topo-
graphical notices may be compared with similar intimations In Britain : and,
barbarized as those appellations are by tradition, and transformed by trans-
cription, they yet evince to attentive minds, by their Gaelic names, that
Ireland was originally colonized from Britain by Celtic tribes [q).
Gothic languages : }'et, in some of tlie mixed dialects of the Gothic, a few derivatives from the
Celtic root appear in analogous significations ; a cii-cumstance this which is far from uncommon
in the Teutonic.
( /) ) Diodorus Siculus who lived under J. Cjesar and Augustus says, Iris, the lerne, or
Leland of that age, was inhabited by Britons. The map of Europe, indeed, evinces that the
British isles embrace Ireland within theu- kindred bosoms. The western point of Caermarttenshire
is only distant from the coast of L-eland five and thirty English miles ; and Holyhead is about
sis and thirty : the Mull of Cantyre is only sixteen miles, and the Ehins of Galloway nineteen
miles from the opposite shores of Leland : the nearest promontorj' of Gaul is distant from the
nearest point of Ireland three hundred English miles ; while Cape Ortegal, in Spain, is not nearer
to Cape Clear, in Ireland, than five hundred and twenty of the same miles.
(q) We see as well in Ptolomy, as in Eichard, the tribe of the Briijantes both in Britain and in
Ireland. The Domnii we perceive in Ireland, in North-Britain, and in South-Britain. There are,
in Ireland, the Corimidii ; and the Coritani, and Corndbii, in Britain. In Ireland, there are the
Ch. I.— The Aborijines.'] OfNORTH-BRITAIN. 19
After the maps of Ptolomy and Richard, we have no other delineations of
Ireland till much more recent ages(;'). Yet, in these, we equally see the
same names of many waters in Britain and in Ireland, wliich can only be
shown to have significance and meaning in the Celtic dialects, which were
spoken by the original colonists of the sister islands. The undoubted certainty
of the facts is demonstrable by the subsequent detail ; being a comparative
Voluntii; and in Britain, the Vuluntii, or Vohintii, and tbe Sistiintii. There, are, in Ireland, the
Vennicnii, and in Britain, the Venniconteft. We see in Ptolomy, the Gaiif/ain, the Camjaiii, in
Richard ; the point of Caernarvonshire, which is the nearest land of South-Britain to Ireland, is
called Gangaiwrum promontorium by Ptolomy, and by Richard, Cangwiorum promontorium ; and he
calls the bay, on the south side of this promontory, Caiigaiiiis sinus : from these coincidences, we
may easily infer, that the tribe of the Caiigani emigrated from the opposite coast to Ireland. On
the east coast of Ireland, as we see in Ptolomy and Richard, there is a tribe of the Menapii, whose
metropolis is Meiiapia: on the opposite point of South Wales, there is the town of Menapui. as placed
by Richard : and from these coincidences, we may reasonably presume, that the Menapit of Wales
were the progenitors of the Menapii of Ireland. There was a tribe, which equally bore the name
of the Menapii, in Belgic Gaul. The Dur river, and Dmironn, in Ireland, are obviously from the Celtic
Dur, or Dour, signifying water : this word appears in the names of certain rivers in Britain, in Gaul,
and in Spain. The lerniis river, in Ireland, is derived from the same Celtic source as the lerna river
in North-Britain, whereon stood the Roman station of Hierna. The Aiifona river in Ireland, which
is iucoiTectly wi'itten Auwna, in some maps, is obviously the Celtic Avon, the name of so many
rivers, in Britain, which is merely latinized into Aufona. The Senus is the latinized form of the
Celtic Sen, which signifies great, gi-and, and slow. In either sense, it is a very appropriate name,
for this river, which. Ware assures us, is the most noble river in Ireland ; and runs so slow as
to stagnate into several lochs, in its extended course. Antiq. Hib. p. 4.S-4. The name of this
fine river was first changed into Senen. then Shenen, and finally into Shannon. The Buvinda of
Ptolomy is the Bui-on, or Yellow river of the Ii-ish. which is now called the Boijne. The Banna
of Richard's map is the latinized name of the Celtic Bann, denoting a white coloured water, the
same as the Bain, in Lincolnshire : there are, Ln Ireland, other two rivers named Ban. The
Darabona of Richard's map, is ob\-iously the Celtic Dar-abhon, or Dar-avon, the Oak river. The
Birgus of Ptolomy. which is vmdoubtedly the Barrow of modern maps, may have derived its
significant name from Bir, Bior, signifying water : whence, Biorach. watry. The Deva of
Richard's map is the same as the Devas in South, and North, Britain, the latinized name of the
Celtic Dee. We may find a river Deva, in Ptolomy's map of Spain. On Ptolemy's and Richard's
maps of Ii'eland, we may see the Argita river ; and in Gaul, Ptolomy marks the Argen. and Argentus,
rivers : the root of these names is the Celtic Ar or Aer, which denotes a clear stream, or a rapid
stream: there are several rivers of this name and quality in Britain, and in the other countries of
Europe, which were settled bj' the Celtse.
(rj O'Connor has. indeed, given, in his Dissertations, p. 170, " a map of L-eland agreeable to
" the times of Ptolomy the geographer." This map is, in fact, compiled from the old Ii-ish
historians, rather than from any preceding geographer : yet, it is obvious, that the names of places
are all Gaelic, and not Gothic.
d2
20
An account
[Book I. — Tlie Roiiirin Period-
statement of the names of rivers in Ireland and in Britain, with the subjoined
meaning of each appellation from the Celtic language ;
In Ireland :
In Beitain :
The Atrds, a remarkable peninsula, on the coast The Aird, a similar peninsula, on the east coast
of Down. of Lewis.
Ard-more. a promontor}' on the coast of Water- Ard-more, a promontory, in the kindred Firth
ford.
Arraii isles, in Galway-bay ;
Airan isle, on the coast of Donegal.
Adar, a river, in Mayo-count)' ;
Aile, in Mayo-county ;
A//e)i-locli, in Leitrim county ;
A II cue river, in Cork ;
Ara-glin river, in Cork ;
Ari-gadeen river, in Cork ;
Arj-ozv river, Loch-Arrow, in Sligo ;
Aven-hanna. river, in Wexford ;
Ai-en-hm river, in Cork;
Aven-m.0Te rivers, two of this name in Mayo ;
Ai'en-iaore river, in SHgo ;
Aren-gorm, in SHgo ; and several other Avens,
in Ireland.
Aiil-diiff] or Ald-dtdili water, in Cork;
of Clyde (1).
Arraii Isle, in the Firth of Clyde ;
Arran Isle, in Wales (2).
Adder, a river, in Wiltshire ; Adur, in Sussex.
.Af/f/er-black, Adder-white, in Berwickshire (3).
Ale, in EoxburgsMre ; and Ale, in Berwickshire.
Allen, or Allan, is the name of several rivers in
South, and Nortli, Britain (4).
Allou'. two rivers of this name, in Northumber-
land (5).
Arre river, in Cornwall; Are, in Yorkshire;
Arm/, in Argyle ; Ai/r in Ayrshire ; and
Ayr, in Cardigan (6).
Arrow river, in Hereford ; Arro, in Warwick ;
Arw, in Monmouthshire.
Several rivers, both in South, and North, Britain,
are named Avon, which, in the ancient
British and Gaelic languages, signifies a
river (7).
Ald-dithh riviilet, in Perthshire (8).
(1) The Gaelic Aird, signifying a point, or projection, is applied to several promontories on
the coast of L-eland, and on the shores of North-Britain.
(2) j4 ran, in the British, signifies a high place: it is the name of several mountains in Britain.
(3) Aweddur (Brit.) signifies running water.
C4) Alwen (Brit.) Alain (Gaelic) signify the white, or clear, stream.
(5) Allow, or Ail-ow, means the clear, or bright, water; Aw, and Ow. in the British, and
other dialects of the Celtic, signify water.
(6) Air (Brit.) denotes the bright, or lucid, stream ; and Acr signifies the violent, or tumul-
tuous stream. Aer-ow, or Aer-ivij, convey the same meaning. Jrw in ancient Gaulish signified rapid.
(7) Avon-ban, signifies the white river ; Avon-hui, the yellow river ; At'on-more, the great river,
and AvoH-f/orni. the blue river. These epithets appear frequently in the names of waters, and hills,
in North-Britain.
(8) Ald-dnbh. in Gaelic, signifies the black rivulet. The epithet duhh is frequently applied, iu the
names of dark-coloured waters, in Britain and Ireland. See Duve.
Cli. I. — The Aborigtnef:.']
In Ireland :
Aw-heg river, in Cork ;
Aney river, in Meatli ;
Anne river, in Clare ;
Bonn river, in Down ;
Bonn river, in Wexford ;
Avon Banna river, in Wesford ;
Bandon river, in Londonderry ;
Ben river, in Mayo.
Bar river, in Donnegal.
Barroiv river, in Kilkenny.
Beg river, in Limerick ;
Boir river, in Louth ;
Bray river, in Dublin County ;
Brow water, in Galway ;
Callen river, in Kilkenny ;
Camon river, in Tyrone ;
Camlin river, in Longford ;
Car lake, in Armagh ;
Carrn lake, and river, in Kerry ;
Cary river, in Antrim ;
Carron river, in T}Tone ;
Of NORTH-BRITAIN.
21
In Beitain :
Aw river, and Aw loch, in Avgj'le (9).
Auney river, in Devon ;
Annan river, in Dumfries (10).
Bane river, in Lincoln ;
Banney river, in York ;
Ban7i-oc-hum. in Stilling ;
Banon river, in Pembroke ;
Bain river, in Hertford (11).
Barle river, in Somerset.
Barrmv river, in Westmoreland (12).
Biga river, in Montgomery (13).
Boiv river, in Shropshire.
Bray river, in Devon (14).
Brue river, in Somerset (15).
Calne river, in Wilts (16).
Cam river, in Cambridgeshire ;
Cam river, in Gloucester.
Camel river, in Cornwall, <fec. (17).
Car river, in Dorset ;
Care river, in Devon ;
Carraa river, in Gloucester ;
Carron river, in Stuling (18).
(9) Aw, in the British, and in the ancient Gaulish, signifies water: Aw-heg signifies the small
water; as, Avon-beg signifies the little river.
(10) An, Ana', or Annagh, in the Gaelic, signifies a water, a river; An, and Ana', are com-
pounds, in the names of several waters in Britain.
(11) Ban, Bane, Banna, Bannon, all signify the white water, from the Gaelic Bans, white.
(12) Bar (Brit.) signifies impulse, fury ; and so is applicable to a rapid stream.
(13) Beg river, is perhaps an imperfect translation of A\on-beg, signifying the little river.
(14) B>-ai (Brit.) means the stream, that floods or swells.
(15) The Bro, and Brue, have probably derived their names from the countries through which
they run : Bro (Brit.) Bru. (Ir.) signify the level, or plain country, the vale, or borders, or banks
of a river.
(16) Caolan, in Gaelic, signifies the small water: hence, a small water, in Argyleshire, is named
Caolan. Call-an, in British, means the water that is apt to run out of its channel.
(17) Cam, Cam-on, Cam-lin, denote the crooked, or bending water, from the British and
Gaelic, Cam : it is a compound, in the names of several streams of this description, in Britain ;
as Cam-\as, in Brecknock. Cam-let, in Shropshire : Cam-hec, in Cumberland, &c.
(18) Car, Carra, and Carran, signify the winding water: there are several winding streams in
North-Britain named Carron.
22
An account
[Book I. — Tlie Itoiiian Period.
In Irel.vnt) :
Clyde river, in Loutli county ;
Clodajli river, in King's county ;
CloilfV/h river, in Fernianagli ;
Clody river, in Londonderry ;
Cidanij river, in Sligo ;
Dee river, in Louth, the Deva of Ptolemy ;
Dearij river, and lake, in Donnegal ;
Dearig loch, in Longford ;
Derina loch, in Kerry ;
Glen Don river, in Antrim ;
Doro river, in Dublin county ;
Z)ojv> river, in Queen's county ;
Dorrij water, in Wicklow ;
Diive river, in Kildare ;
Li Beitain :
Clyde river, in Lanarkshire ; and Cluyd in 'Wales.
Clydach. two of this name, in Pembroke.
Cledich, in Glamorgan ; C/edacli. two rivers of
this name, in Brecknock (19).
Ciilan water, in Banffshire (20).
Dee river, in Wales ; two Dees in North-Britain,
the DevcK of Ptolomy (2 1 ).
Dearg-an water, in Argyle ; several rivulets, and
some lochs in North-Britain, are named Dearg,
from the red colours of their waters (22).
Deren river, in Caermarthen (23).
Don river, in Aberdeen (24).
Dour water, in Fife, and Dour water, in Aber-
deen : and hence the names of Aberdour.
Durar water. Argyle (25).
Dove river, in Staffordshire (26).
(19) Clyd (Brit.) Cliid (Jx.) signify wai-m, sheltered: Clydach, of a warm or sheltered nature:
Clydog is a diminutive form of the word : the L'ish Clodaglis may possibly mean, indeed, from
analogy, the sUmy or db-ty waters ; from Clodaijh, dirt, slime.
(20) Cul-an (Brit.) signifies the naiTow or confined water.
(21) The name of the Dee is probably derived from the British Dtv, which is pronounced like
Dee, and signifies the dark coloured stream : the Gaelic foinn of the word is Dubh, which is pro-
nounced Duv, and m;iy account for the ancient name of Deva, that was given it by Richard and
Ptolomy.
(22) Dearg, and Dearg-an, signify. La Gaelic, the red water.
(23) Dair-an (Brit, and Ir.) signifies the oak water ; and Daran (Brit.) means the sonorous or
noisy stream. But the Der, in these names, is perhaps only a variation of Dar, water, which is
common to all the dialects of the Celtic.
(24) Dwn (Brit.) Don (L'.) signifies dusky, or discoloured, which is characteristic of the
colour of those waters : the Doun, in Ayrshire, retains its original name, in the British form.
(25) All these streams derive their names from the Celtic Dur, or Dour, signifying water. In
the British, it is Dm-; in Cornish, Dowr ; in Gaelic, Dur, or Dobhar, which is pronounced
Dour; in the ancient Gaulish Dur, and Dour; and in Bas Breton Dur. The Dur is a compound
in the names of many British rivers, as the Gal-dnr's, Qlas-dur, Dur-hack, &c. There is a Dur
river, and there is a Dourona river, in Ptolomy's map of Ireland.
(26) These, and several other rivers of similar names, have probably derived their appellations
from the Gaelic Dobh, or Dove, signifying boisterous, swelling ; or more probably from Dubh,
Dow. denoting, like the British Dee, the dusky, or dark colour of the water. This epithet appears in
Ch.l.—T lie Aborigines.'} Of FOETH-BEITAIN.
In Ireland : In Britain ;
23
Ayon-Eti, or Ea river, rises from hoch-Ea, in Ea river, in Dumfries ; Ei/ river, in Berwick ;
Donegal. and Ey river, in Aberdeen (27).
Erne loch, in Westmeatb, mistakenly called Erne river, and Erne loch, in Perthshire ; Erne
Iron loch ; river, now called Findhorn. in Elginshire ;
Erne river, and Ertie loch, in Fennanagh, and Emn water, in Eenfrew (28).
Cavan ;
Esk river, and Jjoch-Esl:, in Donegal ; Esk is the name of a number of rivers in Britain,
Esty river, in Sligo : from the Gaelic Esc, Ease, signif3-ing
Esker river, in King's county : water.
Feal river, in Kerry ;
Fallen river, in Longford ;
Fane river, in Louth ;
Fina river, in Monaghan ;
Finn river, and loch, in Donegal ;
Foy river, in Waterford ;
Foyle river, in Londondeny ; hoch-Evyle, in
Donegal ;
Ftiogh river, in Galway ;
Fale, or Fain rivei-, in Cornwall.
Fall water, in Perthshire (29).
Fane loch, in Sutherland (30).
Fine loch, in Argyle.
Fin rivulet, in Argyle ; Fin loch, in Ayr ; Fin-
glan-water, in Lanerk(l).
Foy river, in Com wall (2).
Foyle, which gives name ioAhcr-Foyle, in Perth (3).
Fevgh river, in Kincardineshire (4).
the names of many British waters : the name of Black water, which several streams bear in Ireland
and in Britain, is a mere translation from the Gaelic Uisye-dtihh, and Avon-diihli. Spenser men-
tions in his Fairy Queen,
" Swift Avinduff. which, of the Englishman,
" Is called Blakewater, and the Liffer-deep."
(27) Ea, Ey, Eu\ and Aw, all signify n-ater in the old Celtic.
{2S) The Ernes may have derived their names from the British .4 crox, or Airon; signifying the
briylit or foamy stream. A river in the south of Ireland which is different from the Ernes in
the text, is called by Ptolomy leriius: the ancient name of the Erne \r\ Perthshire is preserved in
the name of the Eonian station of Hierna, which was placed on its banks : the origin of the whole
may be perhaps found in the British Er ; signifying an impulse or progression.
(29) Feal, Full, and Fallen, deiive their names from the British Fall, denoting what spreads
out, a .spread.
(30) Fan, and Fana. in the Gaelic, signifies a descent, or declivity, also lower.
(1) All those waters which are named Finn and Finne derive their appellations from the
Gaelic Fion, or Finn ; signifying white. Finn enters into the fonnation of the names of several
waters, in North-Britain ; as Fin-raorae, /-'j^i-glass, Fin-em, &c.
(2) Foy, Faoi, in the Gaelic signify the noisy or sonorous stream.
(3) Foile is the English orthography of the Gaelic Phoil, which is an inflection of the Pol, and
is applied both to a loch and to a slow-ninning water : it is put in the oblique case from having
the terms Avon, Loch, or Aber, prefixed to it.
(4) Fiior/h, and Fetiyh. may have derived their names from the Gaelic Fio'ach, Fin'acli, signify-
ing woody ; or from Fnachd. cold, chill.
24
An account
In Ireland :
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In Britain :
Geron point, a piomontoiy on tlie coast of Garon point, a promontory on tlie coast of
Antrim ;
Gara lough, in Sligo ;
Gale river, in Kerry ;
Gara river, and Loch-Gara, in Sligo ;
Garnere water, in Clare ;
Glass locli, in Westmeatli ;
Gui-hixn-a, river, in Donegal ;
G«J-doro river, in Donegal ;
Kincardineshire (5).
Gare loch, in Dumbarton ; Gore loch, in Boss.
Gala river, in Selkirk (6).
Gam/ river, in Perthshire ; Garry river, in In-
verness (7).
Garnar river, in Hereford.
(?/«.< river and loch, in Inverness (8).
Giiij-le river, in Caenaarthen.
Guy-thel, in Herefordshire (9).
Inver river falls into Iiiver bay, at Liver village, Inver river falls into Loch-Iiwer, in Suther-
in Donegal. • land (10).
Kelvin river, in Londonderry ;
Layan water, in Antrim ;
Lagan, or Logan water, in Down ;
Logan water, in Louth ;
Lee I'iver, in Kerry ;
Lee river, in Cork ;
Leane river, in Kerry.
Kelvin river, in Lanerk.
Logan loch, in Inverness ;
Logan water, in Dumfries ;
Logan water, in Lanerk (11).
Lee river, in Hertford ;
Lee river, in Cheshire (12).
Line river, in Northumberland ; Lyne river, in
Peebles ; and several others of the same
name, in Britain (13).
(5) Garran, in the British signifies a Shank, what stretches out.
(6) The Gale, and Gala, may be derived from the British Gal, signifying what breaks out,
or makes an irruption ; and, secondarily, from the British Geal, denoting white, bright.
(7) Garra, and Garry, signify the rough or impetuous river, from Garw, (Brit.), Garbh,
(Gaelic), rough, a torrent. Several torrents in Britain are named from this source.
(8) The epithet Glass, which signifies grey, blue, or green, in the British and Gaelic, is applied
to a number of waters in Britain ; as Glas-inr, Fin-glass, and a variety of streams named Duglas.
(9) These and many other streams in Britain derive their names from the British Givy, signify-
ing water, a stream : and the same, in Cornish. The same Gwy frequently appears in the names
of ^rivers in the form of Wy, Uy ; as the (g) is dropt in composition.
(10) Inbhear, in the Gaelic, which is pronounced Lwer, denotes the mouth of a river, the
influx of a river into the sea, or into a lake, or the influx of one river into another : hence, the term
Inver has in a few instances been transferred to the rivers themselves.
(11) These waters probably derived their names from the valleys through which they run as
Lagan, and Logan, in the Gaelic, signify a hollow.
(12) Lit, in the British signifies a flux, a flood, a stream. Ana'-/ee has its prefix from the
Irish Ana', a river.
(13) Llyn, in the British, and Linne, in the Gaelic, signify what proceeds or is in motion, what
Cli. I.— The Aborigines.'] OpNOETH-BEITxVIN. 25
In Ireland : In Britain :
Liffar river, whicli was called by Spenser the Liver river, in Cornwall ;
Liffar deep; Zwer river, in Argyle (14)
Louijh, and Loch, are every where, in L-eland ; Llwch, and Loch, are eveiy where, in Wales and
Scotland (15).
Mai<j river, in Limerick ; Mcag river, in Eoss-shire (16).
Mmjne river, in Antrim ; Mayne river, in Stafford ;
Maytie river, in Desmond ; Main water, in Wigton ;
Manrj river, in Kerrj' ; Mean water, in Dumfries (17).
Mitlla river, in Cork ; Mulle river, in Montgomeiy ; Moule river, in
Moyle river, in Tyi'one ; Devon ; Mole river, in Sun-ey (18).
Neagh lough, in Antrim ; Neag water, in Denbigh (19).
Roe river, in Londonderry ; Roy river, in Inverness ;
Rohe river, in Mayo ; Rue river, in Montgomery (20).
Rye river, in Kildare ; Rye river, in Yorkshire ; Rye river, in Ayi'.
flows, water, a pool, a lake. The word frequently appears in the names of rivers in Britain,
particularly of such as form pools. Loin, in Gaelic, signifies a rivulet ; and is frequent in the
topogi-aphy of North-Britain. Lliua is the plural of the British Z//, a flood.
(14) The Liffar, and J^iver, as well as the I-^iffy, which bisects Dublin, derive their names
from the British Lif, or Lliv ; signifying a flood or inmidation. The rivers, named Y-lif, which
are now Ila, and Hen, in Britain, have their names from the same source.
(15) The British TAicch, and the Gaelic Loch, or Louch, signifying an influx of water, a lake,
are everywhere, in Britain, and Ireland, applied to inlets of the sea ; and to lakes.
(16) The Maig, and the Meag, may have derived their names from the British Maig, signifying
a sudden turn, or course ; or, perhaps, from the Gaelic Mcag, denoting the ivhey colour of their
waters. The Meggit water in Peebles, the Meggit in Dumfries, the Miglo in Fife, and the Migil
in Sutherland, probably derive their names from the same source.
(17) Mayne, Main, and Mean, may derive their names from the Gaelic ]\[eadhon, which is
pronormced Mean ; signifying the middle : so Avon-Mean signifies the middle river ; or, perhaps,
from the British Mai-an ; signifying the agitated, or troubled water ; which is, indeed, characteristic
of those several streams.
(18) The British Moel, and the Gaelic Maol, signify bare, naked; and may have, therefore,
been applied to those waters, from the circumstance of their being naked, by being without the
covering of wood : Mrvl (Brit), means close, warm : Mol, (Gaelic), of which Mhoil, and MItiiil,
are inflections, signify loud, noisy. The Miil/a is often called by Spenser, by the endearing
epithet, inine ; as it ran through his domain.
(19) Neach, in Gaelic, signifies an apparition; Neoch, in Gaelic, means good, and originally
meant anything noble, excellent, eminent. Collect. Hibern., v. 3. p. 279. In this sense it is very
applicable to loch Neagh, which is certainly the largest lake, in Ireland.
(20) Roe, Roy, and Rue, all signify the red coloured water, from the Gaelic Rua\ Riiai. red :
the analogous word, in the British, is Rhiuld.
Vol. I. E
26
An account
[Book I.— The Roman Period.
In Ieeland ;
Rea loeb, in Galway ; Rei locli, in Roscommon ;
Slaneij river, in Wexford ; Slaan river, in Cork ;
Suire river, in Waterford ;
Swel/i/ river, in Donegal ; Swilli/ river, and Sivi/ly
loch, in Donegal ;
Ta loch, in Wexford ;
Tai/ river, in Waterford.
Tnoiie rivei', in Cork ;
Tulu-clea, river, in FeiTnanagh ;
Urrin river, in Wexford ;
Avon- Ure, in Boscommon ;
In Britain ;
Rea river, in Shropshire ; A'lrt river, in Warwick ;
Rei) or Rail, in Wilts (21)
Slanic vv^ater, in Perthshire (22).
Sotvre river, in Leicester; Swere river, in Ox-
ford (23).
Swail river, in Yorkshire ; Swail, two of this
name, in Kent ; Swily, in Glocester (24).
Taw river, in Devon ; Tan loch, and river, in
Perth ; Taw liver, in Glamorgan (25).
Tone river, in Somerset (26).
Tuile river, in Fife (27).
Urrin river in Eoss-shire ;
Urr river, in Galloway ; Urie river, in Aber-
deen (28).
(2 1 ) Rea, Rey, and Rye, rivers, derive their names from their quality of quickness of flow :
Rhe, (Brit.), Eei', and Rea', (Gaelic), signify a swift motion, rapid : Uisye-rea', and Uisye-rei',
signify literally runnitirj ivatcr; of which Rea water, or Rea river, is a half translation.
(22) Slaan, and Slaney, may have derived their names, from the Gaelic Easc-lan ; signifjring
the full water.
(23) In the Irish, and other dialects of the Celtic, Sur, and Suir, signify water. Collect.
Hibem. v. 3. p. 147 ; and Bullet, mem. in voc. Suyh (Gaelic) and Siiyh (British), means juice,
or liquor.
(24) Suaill, in the Gaelic, signifies small, and Sua!/, famous : but neither of these tenns are
very applicable to the objects : these rivers may have borrowed their names from the nature of the
countries through which they ran : ys-wal, in the British, signifies a sheltered place, an inhabited
or cultivated country.
(25) These, and various other similar names of rivers in Britain, are all derived from the British
Ta, Tati; Gaelic Tamh, Tar, signifying what expands, or spreads; also, what is still, or quiet:
the fine expanses foi-med by these waters justify the propriety of their British appellation : Tay is
the English pronunciation of the British Taw.
(26) Ton (fem.), Tmi (masc), in the British, and also in the Gaelic, denote a water, which
forms sm-ges, or waves, in its roll : but. these names are, perhaps, merely a variation of Tain,
which anciently signified a river, in the British, as well as in the old Gaulish.
(27) Both these rivers derive their names from the Gaelic Tuile. a flood. The Gaelic Tuile enters
into the formation of other names of streams, in Britain; as Ayon-tfniile. or Avon-idle; Tvi/e-i\t,
a stream, in Aberdeenshire.
(28) Avon-'«fo-, (Gaelic), and Avon-oer, (Brit.), signify the coM river : Avon-;(v/)-, (Brit).
Aven-?n-, (Gaelic) signify the pure, or fresh river.
Ch. I.— The Abovi'jines. OpNORTH-BBITAIN. 27
From this comparative view of the rivers of Ireland, and of Britain, arises a
moral certainty, that the British islands were originally settled, by the same
Celtic tribes. This certainty might even be made more certain, by a com-
parison of the names which the first colonists imposed on the other great
objects of nature. Of these, islands and insulated places have the Gaehc
name of Inis, which appears from the maps in the various forms of Insh, Inch,
Incc, Ennis ; and which is the same as the Cambro-British Ynys, and the Cornish
Ennis (a). Of the mountains, several are named from the Gaelic Sliabh ; as
Sliahh-sneacht, the snow mountain, in Donegal ; Sliabh-damh, the stags' moun-
tain, in Sligo ; Sliabh-glas, the grey mountain, in Cavan ; Slahh-bui, the yellow
mountain, in "Wexford (b). The Gaelic hein, signifying a mountain, is the
general appellative of many hills ; as Ben-dubh, the black mountain, in
Tipperary ; Ben-levagh, in Galway ; i?e?i-balbagh, i?(?n-icolben in Sligo. Several
heights have the Gaelic prefix Mam, which also signifies a mountain ; as
Mam-Stxty, in Mayo ; il/am-trasna, in Galway. Several hills are named,
from the Gaelic Cnoc or Knoc, a hill; Knoc-hreac, the speckled hill, in
Cork; Cnoc-na-shi, the fairy hill, in Sligo. The Gaelic Cruacli, a high heap; I j
Cam, a heap ; Midlach, a summit ; Dun, a hill, enter into the names of many
hills in Ireland. AU those Gaelic compounds appear equally conspicuous in
the topography of Scotland, and equally evince that a Gaelic people imposed
those several names on remarkable places in both those countries.
The great body of the names of places in the map of Ireland is undoubtedly
Gaelic (c). Many names, as we might expect, are derived from Ach or Acha,
which is frequently spelt Agh by the English, and signifies a Jield. Many
names are formed from the Gaelic Clo7i or Cluain, signifying a pasturage.
Several names are derived from Ard, a height ; and from Dram or Drum,
a ridge. A number of names are compounded with the Gaelic Dun, which
originally signified a hill, and secondarily a strength or fortress : it often
appears in the form of Dun, Don, Down. Several names are derived from Rath, f j
which also signifies in the Gaelic a -place of secuHty , a strength, a village (d). w
(«) In tlie Comisli. tlie same term is Ynys, Ennis, and Lice. Piyce's Arch. Li the Bas
Breton, it is liiis : and in the ancient Gaulish, Inis, and )'»y.«.
(6) The Gaelic Sliabh is spelt slew, in Speed's maps, which is the spelHng of Spenser ; because
it is the English pronunciation : but, in Beaufort's map of Ireland, and in several of the late
county maps, the orthogi'aphy of Sliabh is more analogically Sliebh, and Sliev.
(c) See Beaufort's map, which has best preserved the Gaelic names of the old Irish people.
{<l) Rath in the Gaelic, and Rhdth in the British, signified originally a plain, or cleared
spot, such as the Celtic inhabitants of the British isles usually fixed their habitations on. Rath, in
E2
28 AnACOOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Cahir and Car form the prefixes of some names in the topography of Ire-
land (e), as Caer and Car do in Walea, in Cornwall, and also iii Scotland, and
all these are derived from the British Caer or the Gaelic Cathair, winch is
pronounced Cair, signifying a wall or mound for defence, a fortified place, a
fortress, lijortified town. There is a numei'ous class of names which is much
more modern, because those names were generally imposed both in Ireland and
in Scotland after the epoch of Christianity, and which appears under the form
of Cil or Kil, signifying a cell, a chapel, a church.
Ireland plainly preserves in her topography a much greater proportion of
Celtic names than the map of any other country, and next to it in this respect
may be placed North-Britain. The names of towns, villages, churches, parishes,
mountains, lakes, rivers, and of other places and objects in Ireland are
nearly all Gaelic. A small proportion are English, or of a mixed natm-e,
consisting of Gaelic and English. The names of places, which appear to be
derived from the Scandinavian rovers who made some settlements on the coasts
of Ireland during the ninth and tenth centuries, are so very few that they
would scarcely merit notice if they did not illustrate the obscurities of history :
and the Scandian names are confined to the coast, as Ave know from Ware {/),
the Eastmen were in their residence, and these appellations are chiefly con-
spicuous from their giving names to some of the marine towns. The mixed
names are composed by grafting English words on Irish roots, as Lif-ford,
Achil-head, Ban-foot, Baile-horougli, Gil-ford, Ahhey-feal. The English ap-
pellations are such as Ahing-ton, Ac-ton, HiUs-horoiir/h, Lanes-horough, Mary-
horough. New-town, New-castle, Long-ford, Stratford. The termination of
ford in those names and in others, as it merely signifies the passage of several
waters, must not be confounded, as Ware and Harris have mistakenly done,
with the affix ford in 'W ex. ford, Wa,ter-ford, CarVing-ford, Strang-ybrcZ. The
fact evinces that in these names the ford is affixed to some hay, frith, or
haven, and consequently must be the Scandinavian ford, which denotes such
collections of water. The names which were applied to various objects in
the Gaelic also signified a siiretij : hence the term was applied by the old Irish and by the Sooto-
Ii-ish to the villages in which they lived, to the seats of their Flait/is or Princes, and to the fortress
or place of security : Rath is the common appellation for the ancient Irish Forts, most of which were
situated on eminences, the same as in Britain : yet, this -n-oll-known Celtic word, which was so
frequently applied by the Gaelic people of L-eland and of North-Britain to their villages and strengths.
has been deduced by speculation from the Geiman Rat, which has quit 3 a different meaning! Trans,
of the Irish Academy, v. 8. Antiq. p. 5.
(f) See Beaufort's Map, and his Index. {/) Antiq. Hibern. ch. 24.
Ch. I.— The ALoriffifies.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 29
Ireland by the Eastmen are so few as to admit of being enumerated. Tlie
names of Wex-fo7-d, Water-ford, Cuvlmg-fovd, 8tva.ng-ford, which are all con-
nected with hays, need not be repeated : it is of more importance to note, that
the native Irish still use their own vernacular names for these towns, as
Waterford is by them called Port-Lairge, Wexford Loch-garman. The name
of Wicklow is somewhat doubtful : Wik in the Scandinavian signifies a hay or
creek, and also a fortress or strength ; but the term is also in the Anglo-
Saxon and in old English : and the affix loio in Wick-ZoH', Ark-low, Car-?0(r,
may possibly be derived from the old English loiv, a hill or rising ground,
which was borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon hlaew (g). Smerwick, a bay on
the coast of Kerry, is probably the Srnerivick of the Scandinavians, signifying
the butter-haven. The Olderfeete-heiven, in Speed's map of Antrim, seems
also to be a Scandian name. The Scandinavian ey, signifying an island, ap-
pears to have furnished a few names of islands with terminations, such as the
islets of Dalk-ey, Lamb-a?/, Ireland's-eye, on the coast of Dublin ; the Salt-ee
islands, on the coast of Donegal ; Om-ey island, on the coast of Galway ;
Durs-e^ island, on the coast of Cork ; Whidd-?/ island, in Banti-y-bay. Holm-
Patrick, an islet on the coast of Dublin, is probably the Scandinavian Holm, an
islet, though holm also signifies an islet in the Anglo-Saxon speech. But
these form very few of the numerous isles lying around the shores of Ireland,
the great body whereof is named from the Gaelic Tnis, and a few indeed
have English appellations. The names of Limen'cyt, of Lein.sier, of Mwnster,
and of Ulster were plainly formed from the vernacular names of Gaelic times
by the addition of Scandinavian terminations. The Irish name of Luim-neach
was converted by the Scandinavian intruders into Limerick. To the Gaelic
appellations of Laighean, Mumhain, and Ulladh, which are pronounced like
Laiean, Muain, and Ulla, the Scandinavians who settled on their shores
added the Gothic term Stadr or Ster, and thus formed Leinsier, M.ua.r\sfer,
and Ulster : and these compounded names, which were more familiar to the
English of the twelfth century, were by them adopted and continued, while
the native Irish still use their own vernacular names, with the prefix Coige,
signifying a province. Such are the few names which the Scandinavians im-
posed on the places of Ireland : and the topography of Ireland, which exhibits
(jj) See Gibson's Sax. Chron. Rajulie Generales, p. C, 7. Yet Carlow is merely a corruption of the
vernacular Irish name Catliair-lowjli, signifying the fortress or town on the lake. See Collect. Hibem.
V. 3. p. 340. This name is pronounced in Irish Cairlough, and by the English Carlow : so the ter-
minations of Arllow and Wicklow may also be from the Irish loiiah, which is pronounced loio by the
English : \hefact must decide many such doubtful positions.
30
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
none of those Gothic appellations at any distance from the coast, to which
they were confined, altogether corresponds with their history as we read it in
"Ware's Antiquities : nor is there to be seen one mountain, lake, river, town,
village, or any other object in the ulterior of this Celtic island which bears a
Scandinavian name.
The Index to Beaufort's map, which may be deemed the villare of Ireland,
contains 3342 names of cities, towns, baronies, villages, parishes, churches,
mountains, lakes, rivers, bays, promontories, and islands : of these 3028 are
GaeUc names; 171 are mixed names of Gaelic and English; 623 appellations are
English ; and of the whole only 20 names are Scythic, Scandinavian, or Gothic.
The several proportions of those various names are exhibited in the subjoined
table under the different letters of Beaufort's alphabet (h).
This table, then, furnishes a moral demonstration of the historic truths, that
Ireland was originally colonized by Gaelic people from Great Britain, and
(//) A Table sliowing tlie respective numbers of the several names of towns, villages, parishes,
mountains, lakes, rivers, bays, promontories, and islands, in Beaufort's map of Ireland, and
exhibiting the proportion of Gaelic, English, and Scandinavian designations under each letter
of the Alphabet.
Gaelic.
Mixt, Gaelic
and English.
English.
Scandian.
The Total.
Names in A -
187
13
5
0
205
B -
387
12
88
0
487
C -
409
29
91
1
530
D -
•270
8
10
2
290
E -
39
2
4
0
45
F -
74
4
17
0
95
G -
88
7
30
0
125
H -
2
0
33
2
37
I -
99
3
10
1
113
K -
G50
3
7
0
660
L -
127
3
17
3
150
M-
182
12
57
1
252
N -
20
7
48
0
81
0 -
3.5
4
6
2
47
P -
22
2
33
0
57
Q -
0
0
3
0
3
R -
143
4
26
0
173
S -
117
8
84
3
212
T -
1.58
47
18
0
1 223
U and V
13
3
6
1
23
W-
0
0
26
4
30
Y -
0
"
4
0
4
3028
171
623
•20
3842
Ch. I.— The Ahorijinex.l OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 31
that a Scandinavian race never settled beyond the shores of the sacred island.
Such are the instructive helps which the topography of Ireland supplies to the
obscure history of her successive colonists from the earliest to recent times.
The stone monuments of the first settlers which still remain, confirm the just
representation that has been given of their original country and genuine
lineage {i).
From those authentic facts and satisfactory circumstances, it is reasonable to
infer that the British isles were all settled by the same people during the most
early times. If Europe was originally peopled by the gradual progress of
migrations by land ; if the nearest continent colonized the adjacent islands ; if
the shores of South-Britain were thus peopled from Gaul, we may thence infer,
that the northern districts of the same island were settled by migrants from
the South, who were induced by curiosity, or urged by interest, to search for
new settlements, while the original impulse yet produced its early eftects. This
reasoning is confirmed by facts. It will be found that the Celtic tribes of
North-Britain practised the same worship, followed the same manners, and
spoke the same language : and these circumstances are proofs which demon-
strate the sameness of the people, with greater conviction, than the fanciful
theories of philosophers or the absurder intimations of ignorant chroniclers.
In every history, it is of the greatest importance to ascertain the origin of the
people, whose rise, and progress, and fortune it is proposed to investigate.
But, in an account of Nwth-Britain, that object becomes still more important,
when it is considered how often its aborigines have been traced to various
sources, and how much its annals are involved in singular obscurity. Whether
the aborigines of North-Britain were of a Gaelic or a Gothic origin has been
disputed with all the misinformation of ignorance, and debated with all the
obstinacy of prejudice. The lineage and the chronology of the Caledonians,
the Picts, and the Scots, have been investigated with the zeal of party rather
than the intelligence and the candour of rational inquirers, who examine
much more than dispute.
Under such circumstances it becomes necessary to offer with regard to such
inquiries, proofs which come near to demonstration. We have seen that the
Bi-itish isles were peopled by Celtic tribes in the most early ages. These
(j) It is not tlie Round Towers which are here referred to, and which are of much more recent
erection ; but the Cairns, the Circles of Stones, the Cromlechs, which are of the first ages. See
Wright's Louthiana, bk. iii. pi. 3, 4, 5, G ; Gough's Camden, v. 3, pi. xxxv. xlvi. xlviii ; King's
Munimenta Antiqua, v. i. p. 282 — 3 ; Grose's Antiq. Ireland, introd. p. xi ; Smith's Hist. Cork, v. ii.
pi. xii. xiii.
32
An account
[Book I — The Eoman Period.
settlements were made during distant times while only one race of men in-
habited Western Europe. The Gothic migrations which are but recent when
compared with the colonization of Europe, had not in those times begun.
And, from those intimations we might easily infer that the Gaulish tribes
who planted the southern parts of Britain found a ready course throughout
every division of Britain, and a final settlement in the northern districts of the
same island. In our subsequent progress we shall see history recognise and
topography confirm that rational notion of the original colonization of North-
Britain, [k) This region during the first century is a small but genuine mirror
{Ic) A comparison of the appellations of the tribes, and of the names of places in South and North-
Britain, as they are stated by Ptolomy and Richard, will furnish a decisive proof that the tribes in
both were of the same lineage, and that the names of places, in both those countries -were imposed
by the same Gaelic colonists. They are,
In South-Beitain. In Nobth-Beitain.
(1) The Carnabii of Cornwall; the Camabii of (1) The Carnabii of Caithness.
Cheshire and Shropshire ;
The Cantae of Kent ;
The Damnii of Devon ; the Damnii of Ire-
land;
The Tri-novantes of Esses, and Middlesex ;
The Cantae of Eoss-shire.
The Damnii of Clydesdale, of Renfrew, and
Ayr.
The Novantes of Galloway.
(2) The Sylva Caledonia of Norfolk ; and Suf- (2) The Sylva Caledonia of the interior high-
folk ;
Uxella, a town of the Hedui ;
Usella, a river of Somerset ;
Uxellum promontorium, at the mouth of the
Humber ;
Lindum, at Lincoln, a town of the Coitani ;
Eerigonium, a town of the Sistuntii, in Lan-
cashire ;
Varis, in Wales ;
(3) The Alaima, a river of the Belgaj ;
The Esca, a river, in Devon ;
The Isca, or Esca, in Wales ;
The Abona, which falls into the Severn ;
The Deva, a river in Wales ; and in Ii-eland ;
lands.
Uxellum, a town of the Selgovse.
Uxellum monies of Galloway.
Pf)i-Uxellum promontorium, at the mouth of
Dornoch frith.
Lindum at Ai-doch, a town of the Damnii.
Eerigonium, a town of the Novantes, in Gallo-
way.
Varis, in Murray.
(3) The Alauna. whereon stood Alauna, a town of
the Damnii.
The Esica, in Angus, and others of the same
name, in North-Britain.
The Abona, which separates the Cantse and
Logi.
The Deva, a river in Galloway, and in Aber-
deen.
The Nidus, a river in Galloway.
The Tina, a river of the Veni-icones, in Angus.
The Nidus, a river in Wales ;
The Tina, a river of the Ottodini, in Nor-
thumberland ;
This comparative statement, then, exhibits not similarities, but samenesses ; and thereby clearly
shows that the same people must have originally imposed all those names on the same persons and
places.
Ch. I.— The Ahoriiimes] OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 33
of Gaul during the same age. North-Britain was inhabited by one and twenty
clans of Gaelic people, whose polity, like that of their Gaelic progenitors, did not
admit of very strong ties of political union. They professed the same religious
tenets as the Gauls, and performed the same sacred rites : their stone monu-
ments were the same, as we know from remains. Their principles of action ;
their modes of life ; their usages of burial, were equally Gaelic : and, above
all, their expressive language, which still exists, for the examination of those
who delight in such lore, was the purest Celtic.
To leave no doubt, with regard to the Aborigines of North-Britain, v/hich is
of such importance to the truth of history, there will be immediately subjoined
proofs of that simple notion of their original settlement, which amount to a
moral demonstration. These proofs will consist of an accurate comparison
between the names of places in South-Britain, and the same names in North-
Britain, under the following heads : (1.) Promontories, hills, and harbours ;
(2.) Rivers, rivulets, and waters ; (3.) Miscellaneous names of particular
distiicts. Now, the identity of the names of places in both the divisions of
our island being certain, as well the fact as their meaning, no doubt can
remain but the same people must have imposed the same names on the same
objects in the north and in the south of the British islands. In this topo-
graphical investigation, wliich is as new as it is interesting, we at once proceed
to inquire :
I. Of PEOMONTOEIES, HAEBOUES, and HILLS.
In South-Beitain ; In Nobth-Beitain ;
.4fe(, (laigli cliff). ) , ^.,, ,• p . 11 ^j'te, a liigli, rocky, island in the Frith of Clyde.
A/stdii, (high cliff),) ' ^ '^ ' ■ Aha, a rocky isle in Loch-Crinan, Argyleshire (1).
(1) Als (Corn.), a cliff; Allt (Brit.), a cliff; All (Ir.), a rock, or chff ; Alt. m ancient Gaulish,
a height, a hill. The language which is made use of in the whole of this enquiiy is taken from the
following sources, and is supported by the subjoined authorities : the British and Ai-moric from the
Dictionaries of Davies and Ehydderich, of Eichards and Owen, and Lhuyd's Archaiologia : the
Cornish from Pryce's Archaiologia, and Borlase's History of Cornwall : the Irish or Gaelic from
the Irish Dictionaries of Lhuyd and of O'Brien ; from Shaw's Gaehc Dictionary, from the Voca-
bularies of Macdonald and Macfarlane, and from Stewart's Gaelic Grammar. The Bas-Breton,
the Basque, and the old Gaulish or Celtic from the Dictionaries of Eostrennen and Pelletier and
from Bullet's Memoires sur la Langue Celtique. This general intimation is here given to save the
frequent repetitions of those several authorities, which would occupy much room and only embaiTass
the sense.
Vol. L F
84
An account
[Book I. — The Eomau Period.
In South-Beitaix ;
Armn island, in Wales : several mountains iu
Merionetli ; and two hills, near Bala, are
called Aran.
Aber-yaUviih, and Aber-portli, in Cardiganshiie ;
Aber-poult, Aber-ithy, Aber-melin, Abcr-
awrgog, Aber-howel, and Aber-kibor, on
the coast of Pembroke ; Aber-dovey, in
Merionethshire ; Aber-daron, in Oaeraarvon-
shire ; Aber-fi-aw, in Anglesey ; and many
places at the confluence of waters inland,
as well as on the coast, are named Aber.
Cove is applied to a creek ; as Coi'«-hith, in
Blething-himdred, Suffolk ; Toplund}' Cove,
and Portkewin Cove, in Trig-hundred ; and
Nantgissel Cove, at the lands-end, Cornwall :
the Cove in St. Mary's isle. Scilly.
Calais, on the coast of France, was doubtless
named from the naiTOw strait which separates
South-Britain from France.
In Noeth-Beitain ;
Arran island, in the Clyde, is so named from a
range of high mountains which run through
the middle of it (2)
Aber-deen, Aber-don, Aber-dour, in AberdeeushLre ;
Aber-dour, in Fifeshire; Aber-brothock, Aber-
lemno, and Aber-elliot, in Forfarshire ; Abex-
tay, at the mouth of the Tay ; Aber-ladj', in
Haddingtonshire ; and many places at the
confluence of waters inland, as well as on the
coast, are named Aber (3).
Cove is applied to a creek; as old Cove-harbour, in
Berwickshire ; Coi'«-haven, in St. Vigean's
parish. Forfarshire; the Core-harbour, in Nigg
parish, Kincardineshire (4).
There are several straits, between the different
islands and the mainland, around the west
coast of North-Britain, called Caolan. Calais,
and Ki/les. which in Irish, signify a frith or
strait.
(2) Aran (Brit.) a high place: it is the name of several of the highest mountains in Britain.
There are also the Arran isles in Galway-bay, and Arran island on the coast of Donegal, Ireland.
(3) Aber (Brit.) signifies a confluence of water, the junction of rivers, the fall of a lesser river into
a gi'eater, or into the sea ; by metaphor, a port, or harbour. Aber has the same signification in
Cornish, in Bas-Breton, and in the Ancient Gaulish. The British Aber appears very frequently in the
topography both of North and South-Britain : it is uniformly applied to the influx of a river into the
sea, or into some other stream, as the word signifies ; and it is compounded -n-ith the Celtic names of
the rivers in the Celtic fonn of construction, as Aber-ta,y, which, in the Scoto-Saxon, is called Tay-
movth. This ancient British word cannot, iherefore, be referred to the Saxon or German Oher, the
root of the English Over, which is totally different in its meaning and mode of application. In the
British speech of Wales and Cornwall, the Aber is still in common use, both in its original significa-
tion, and the secondary application of it to a port or harbour. The Aber of the British corresponds
with the hirer, of the Irish, and both are applied to similar objects, as they signify the same thing.
It is a curious fact, which wo learn from the charters of the twelfth century, that the Scoto-Irish
people substituted their Liver for the previous Aher of the Britons. David I, granted to the monastery
of May " Inver-in qui fuit Aber-in." Chart. May. This remarkable place is at the influx of a small
stream, named In, into the sea on the coast of Fife ; both those names are now lost. It is an equally
curious fact, that the influx of the Nethy into the Ern, which had been named Aher-nethy by the
Britons, was called Inver-net\iy by the Scoto-Irish ; and both these names still remain. The Gothic
word for the British Aber is Aros ; as Nid-Aros.
(4) Cof. (Brit.) moans a hollow trunk, a cavity, a belly : so Cof, Coff, and Cov, in the ancient Gaulish.
Cli. I. — Tlie Alori(/tiies.']
Op NOETH-BEITAIN.
35
In South-Bbitain ;
Heugh is a name appplied to several heiyhts, or
hi(ih points, around the coast of Cornwall ;
as Heuijh Town, on a liigli peninsula ; Hcur/k
Passage, in Beer Fen-ers ; Lamerton Heugh,
in Lamerton parisli ; Dunterton Heugh, in
Dunterton parish ; the Heugh, or Hew, a
high peninsula, in St. Mary's isle, Scilly ;
and several heights, on the shores of the
Tamar, are called Hevghs.
Kenarth, on a point between two rivers, in
Caei-marthenshire ; Penarth-T^omi, near
Cardiff ; and PenartA-point, near Swansea ;
Glamorganshire.
Pentire is the name of a point of land, in Trig-
hundred, Cornwall.
Pen-lee point, near Plymouth, and several other
names of Pen, which are applied to head-lands,
on the coasts of Cornwall, and Wales.
PorUeg, and Portsmouih., in Por^scZo wre-hundi-ed,
Hampshire.
In North-Bhitain :
Heugh is a name appUed to several heights, along
the sea coast of North Britain ; as the Eed-
Hcugh, and Hawks-//e(((//j, in Berwickshire ;
Craig-Heug/i, and Heugh-eni, in Fifeshire ;
Carlin-i/e;/5'/i, and Bieei-Heugh, in Forfar-
shire ; Fowl's Heugh, and the Eam-Hcxgh,
in Kincardineshire ; Oai-Heugh, in Moch-
rum parish, Wigton ; and Clachan-i/e(/(/A,
on Loch -Ey an, in Wigtonshire (5).
Kingartli, in the island of Bute ; which was so
named from a bold head-land, near it on
the coast (6).
Kintijre is the name of a long narrow point of
land, in the south of Aigyleshire (7).
Pen-an, a head-land, on the north coast of
Buchan, Aberdeenshire ; and the Pen is
applied to projecting heights in North-
Britain (8).
Portsoy, a sea-port, in Banffshire ; PoH-dovin,
a creek in Wigtonshire.
(5) Uch, and Uchel, (Brit.), means high, a height, the top, &c. ; and so Uch in the Bas Breton and
ancient Gaulish. The aspirate //. was probably prefixed to Uch, and thereby formed Huch : there
are many instances in the topogi-aphy of North-Britain where the H has been prefixed to Celtic words
beginning with a vowel ; the Hoch, or Hoh, of the Gennan alius, excelsus, is derived from the British
Uch, Uchel. Wachter's Glossary.
(6) Pen (Brit.), signifies a head, or end, as in the ancient Gaulish and Bas Breton : and Garth, a,
high cape, or ridge ; in composition, Penarth : so Garth in Bas Breton and ancient Gaulish. Cean,
and Cin, (Ir.), means a head, or end; in the ancient Gaulish, Cen: so Pen-arth and Kin-garth signify
the same : the British Pen is a frequent prefix to the names of places in North-Britain.
(7) From Pen, (Biit.), and Cin, (Ir.), a head, or end as above, and Tir, land, (Brit, and L-ish) : so,
Pen-tire and Kiii-ti/re are synonymous. "At the north-west end of all Caithness," said John Harding,
in the fifteenth century, "is Kentyr, and Eentijr-ynough." Gough's Top. v. 2. p. .582. This is the
name which had been given to the lands-end b}' the Scoto-Irish inhabitants of Caithness. Cean-tir-a
nochd, in Irish, signifies the nahed lands-end, or the naked head-land. In the British and Cornish
languages, the point of Caithness is called Penrhyn-Blathaon. Lhuyd's Aich. p. 238, and Eichard's
Diet. Penryhjn, in both those languages, signifying a promontory, a cape, from Pen. a head, or end,
and Bhyn, a point : it is easy to perceive the analogy of the application of this appropriate name to
the farthest point of Caithness.
(8) The annex, An, is the diminutive : so that Pennan is the little point, in contradistinction, per-
haps, to Troup-head, a large promontory, two miles westward of Pen-an at the entrance into the
Moray Frith.
Vol. I. F 2
36
An account.
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In South-Beitain ;
Poj-f-Mellin, (Mill-creek), in Cornwall.
Portedck-haxan, in Trig-hundred, Cornwall.
Pori-Garreg, on the coast of Glamorgaushire :
there are divers names, beginning with Port,
•which are compounded with British words,
on the coast of Wales, and Cornwall ; as
Pori-Felyn, PorM-Orion, Porrt-Colman ;
Po)-rt-Ysgadan, Po?-f/j-Lechog, Por</i-Mel-
gon, &c. in Wales ; Pori-Leven, Port-
Keum, Pori-Hillie, Po?t-Luny, &c. iu
Cornwall.
Ram, and P«HJ-Head, near Plymouth, in Corn-
wall ;
Pam-Head, a point opposite to Portsmouth ;
Ram-sjde, on a point in Lancashire ;
Ramsey, on an arm of the sea, in Essex ;
Pawisgate, in the face of a steep cliff, in the isle
Thanet ;
Pamsway, and Eamsey-haven, in the Isle of
Man ; and divers other names, beginning
with Rant.
Rill is, in many instances, applied to a point, as
Pen-ryn, on a promontory, in Falmouth-
haven, Cornwall ; and the heights above
the same town are called the Rins.
FenrJii/n point,
Fenrhijn Caml3m point,
Tenrhynyr Wylan point,
J
in Anglesey.
In Noeth-Beitain :
P())'?-Moulin, (Mill-creek), in Wigtonshire.
Po/'<-Nessock, in Kirkcolm parish, Wigtonshire.
Poci- Yarrock, on the coast of Wigtonshire :
there are divers names, beginning with
Port, which are compoimded with Celtic
words, on the coast of North-Britain ; as
Poj-<-Charran, Pori-Cheillion, Po?'<-Losset,
&c. in Argyle ; Poi'i-Cunan, Pori-Gill,
Po?-?-Kale, Po?-?-more, &c. in Wigton ;
Porf-Camuil, Port-Leak, &c. in Suther-
land ; Porf-Liech, and Por^-Mohomack, in
Cromarty (9).
Carrick-Pa»i, a promontory, in Ku-kmaiden parish,
Wigtonshire ;
Pa?«-asa isle, north of Lismore, Argyleshire ;
Prt»i-saig, on a point in Skye, Inveraess-shire ;
PflH(furlee, in Kilbarchan parish, Renfrewshire ;
Rome, near Crail, in Fife ;
Rome, in Scone parish, Perth ; and divers other
names, beginning with Ram (10).
Rill is, in many instances, applied to a point ; as
two large promontories are called the Rins
of Galloway ;
Rindovi- point, between Wigton and Fleet bay ;
P/«'(ichewaig, a narrow point, in Loch-Eyan,
Wigtonshire ;
Pen)%» Blathaon, the British name of Caithness
point ;
East, and West, Rijncl, on naiTow points, in
Perthshire ;
Rhind, a point in Clackmananshire.
(9) Porth, (Brit. Cornish, Armoric, and ancient Gaulish), signifies a haven, a harbour : Port, (h:),
a port, a haveri. The Forth, the great haven of Edinburgh, is merely the British Porth ; the P
changing to Ph, and F: In the Irish, P, in the oblique case, becomes Ph.
(10) Ram is a very ancient word, which always signified high, noble, great ; as we may see in
Cahnet s Diet, of the Bible : so Ram, Rama, Ramos, signified something great, noble, or high.
Holwell's Myth. Diet. Ram, Rham, in the British, signifies what projects or is forward ; Rhamn, to
project, or go foi-ward ; and Rhamunta, from the same root, to predict. Ram, rohur, j>ars e.rtrcma
rei, mwyo terminus. Wachter's Gei-m. Gloss. Ram. signifying a height, or elevation, is a primitive
word. Geb. Gram. Univer., p. 182. And see the word Rom, having the same meaning. Geb. Monde
Ch. I. — The Aborigines.']
NORTH-BEITAIN.
37
In South-Bbita™ ;
Rin-xa.oxQ, on a point in Armington-liundred,
Devonshire.
Ross, on a point formed by the junction of two
waters, in Greytree-hundred, Herefordshire ;
Ross, on a promontory South of Holy-island, on
the coast of Northumberland.
Trwyn-y -^3,rk, a promontory,^
Tnvijn Melin point,
Trwyn-dca. point, V. in Anglesey ;
Trwyn Penrhosy feilw point,
TriOT/zi-y-Balog point,
Trwyn-y -Bylan point, Camai'vonshire ;
Trun/n-Qogarth. point, Denbighshire ;
An-Tron (the point), in Kirrier-hundred, Corn-
wall.
In Noeth-Beitaiu :
Rill-more, in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire ;
i?Hj-more, in Cantire, Argyle (11).
Ross, a point in Berwickshire ;
Ross-inj, and i?os.s-Finlay, small promontories in
Loch-Lomond ;
i?os-neath, on a promontory between Loch-Long
and Loch-Gare ;
Ross-keen, on a promontory in ^css-shire ; and
several other promontories are called Ross(\2).
Truyn point, on the coast of Kyle, Ayrshire ;
'Dun-troon point and castle, in Lcch-Crinan, Argyle-
shire ;
D\va-tri)(jv, in Dundee parish, Forfarshire ;
Twrrtberry-head (a con'uption of Tniynhevxy) on
the coast of Carrick, Ayrshire, and manj^
names wherein Stron is applied to pvints or
l^ojections (13).
11. OF EIVERS, EIVULETS, and WATERS,
In South-Beitain ;
In Noeth-Bbitain :
Adder, a river in Wiltshire ; White Adder and Black Adder, rivers in Berwick-
Adur, a river in Sussex. shire (1).
Allen, rises in Denbighshire, and joins the Dee in Allan joins the Teviot in Roxburghshire ;
Flintshire ;
Prim., tom. 3. p. 64, 343. In fact, there is a i'am-head on the coast of Ireland ; and one of
the principal promontories in the Euxine was called the ^ams-head. Clarke's Connexion, p. 53.
(11) The above and many other Rins have derived their names from 7?%» (British and
Cornish), a promontory, a hill. Rinn (Ir.), a promontory, a peninsula, the iwint of any thing.
In fact, Rin is also applied to a jwint in several names of places in Ireland, as Rien parish, on a
long point in Clare county. Several points about Valentia island, in the county of Ken-y, are called
Rins.
(12) Rhus (Brit.) signifies a start, and is applied figuratively to a promontory in the same manner
as the English Start point on the coast of Devonshire. Ross (Ir.), a promontory. Ros, in ancient
Gaulish, signified a promontory, a peninsula. Ross appears frequently in the topography of L'eland
applied in this sense. See Beaufort's map of Ireland, and the Index.
(13) Trwyn (Brit.), a nose, a snout. Tron (Coniish), a nose, a proiaontcry. Sron (Ir.), a nose, a
snout.
Aweddiir (Brit.) signifies running water : whence, also, the name of the Adiir river in Ireland.
S8
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Feriod.
In South-Britain;
Allen, in Dorsetsliii'e ;
Alan, in Cornwall ;
Alwen, in Merionethshire,
Aln falls into the aea at Aln-mouth in Northum-
berland : Ahi, in Warwickshire.
Aid, in Suffolk;
All falls into the sea at 4Z<-mouth in Lancashire;
Alet, in Denbighshire (4).
Aijr, in Cardiganshii-e ;
Are, or Air, in Yorkshire ;
Arre joins the Tamar in Cornwall.
Anion joins the Lougher in Oaermarthenshire ;
Avon falls into the sea below Aberavon in Glamor-
ganshire ;
Avon joins the Taff in Glamorganshire ;
Avon, in Gloucester, joins the Severn at Tewks-
bm-y ;
Avon, in Wiltshire, falls into the Severn below
Bristol ;
Avon falls into the sea in Hampshire;
In Nobth-Beitain :
Allan joins the Tweed in Eoxburghshire ;
Allan joins the Forth in Perthshire ;
El win, formerly Alwen, in Lanarkshire (2).
Aln joins the Teviot in Bosburghshire ;
A hi, in Berwickshire (3).
Aid and Alt are prefixed to many names of rivulets,
as Ald-Bain!i.c, ^/(Z-Damph, 4W-Each, in
Aberdeenshire, etc., etc.
Ayr fall into the sea at Ayr in Ayrshire ;
Araj falls into Loch-Fyne at Inveraray, Ai-gyle-
shire (5).
jinion divides West and Mid-Lothian ;
Anion joins the Tay in Perthshire (6).
Avon joins the Clyde in Lanarkshire ;
Avon falls into the Forth between Stirlingshire
and Linlithgowshire ;
Avon joins the Spey at Inveravon in Banffshire ;
Avon joins the Feugh in Kincardineshire ;
Avon, in Logie-Easter, Eoss-shire ;
Avon joins the Annan in Dumfriesshire ;
(2) All those rivers derive their names from Alwen (Brit.), Alain (Ii-.), signifying a white
or bright stream. In a charter of William the Lion to the monastery of Melros, in the twelfth
century, the Allan, which joins the Tweed, is called Alwen, in the British form. Chart. Antiq. in
Bibl. Harl.
(3) These names of Aln are, no doubt, abbreviations of Alwen or Alen, as before explained. The
Aln in Eoxburghshire, and the Aln in Berwickshire, are still further abbreviated Ale m common
speech, but these names in old charters are Aln, and hence the name of Alncrum, a village on the
banks of the Eoxburghshire Aln, which is mentioned by the name of Alna in a charter of David to the
.monastery of Kelso in 1128. The Elan in Eadnorshire, Alaw water in Anglesey, the Alows in
Northumberland, the rivers Aile and Allow and Loch-^//«)i in Leland, have probably derived their
names from the same source.
(4) Akd (Brit.) signifies a moving or fluid principle, a running stream, a rivulet : Aid and Alt in
Gaelic means a rivulet.
(.5) Air (Brit.) signifies brightness, lucidity : and Aer means violence, tumult : whence also the name
of the Arun in Sussex. Are is the name of many rivers in Europe, says Gebelin, as indeed the maps
evince, particularly the Are in Switzerland. Arw, in the ancient Gaulish, signified rapid: so we have
the Arow river in Herefordshire, and the Aruw in Sligo, Ireland.
(6) Anion is merely a variation of Avon, as under, the v of the British changing to m; and in the
sist?r dialect of the Lish the foim of the word is Amhan and Ahhain.
Cli. I. — The Aborigines.']
Of NOETH-BEITAIN.
39
In South-Beitain ;
Avon joins the Usk, in Monmoutlishue ;
Avon, or Avon-Vane, falls iato the sea, in
Merionethshire. Avon is the common ap-
pellation which is prefixed to the names of
many rivers in Wales and Cornwall.
Bain joins the Witham in Lincolnshire ;
Banney in Yorkshire ;
Below joins the Eden, in Westmoreland ;
Bei'win joins the Tivy, in Cardiganshire ;
Bran joins the Usk at Aber-braen, in Brecknock-
shire ;
Braen joins the Towy, in Caermarthenshire ;
Brant, of which there are two in Anglesey.
Calder joins the Wire, in Lancashire ;
Calder joins the Eibble, in Lancashii-e ;
Calder joins the Air, in the West-Eiding of
Yorkshire ;
In Noeth-Beitain :
Avon is also prefixed to the names of many rivers ;
as ylron-Brouchag, ^roH-Coll, and Avon-
Loung, in Eoss-shire ; Avon-A.As.i\, Avon-
Araig, and ^Irou-Laggan, in Argyleshire.
fro. (7).
Bainac, a small stream, falls into the Dee in
Aberdeenshire.
Bannoc bum, in Stirhngshire (S).
Bella joins the Lugai-, in Ayrshire (9).
Bervie falls into the sea at Inver-bervie, in Kin-
cardineshire (10).
Bran joins the Tay, in Perthshire ;
Braan joins the Connon, in Eoss-shire ;
lioch-Braon, in Eoss-shire (11).
Calder joins the Clyde, in Lanarkshire :
Calder in the south-west of Edinbui-ghshire ;
Calder joins the Nairn, in Nairnshire ;
Calder, South, and Calder, North, in the north-
east of Lanarkshue :
Calder.
(7) Avon, in the British, the Cornish, and Armoric, as well as in ancient Gaulish, signifies a
river, a stream. Ahhain and Amhan have the same meaning in the Irish ; and the word appears
in the name of many rivers in Ireland. The Saxons took this general appellation for the proper
name of particular rivers : hence so many waters are simply called Avon. In the same manner
the Saxons adopted, as the proper name of many rivers, the British terms denoting their quahties,
without the general appellative, which was coupled with these terms by the Britons ; and is still
used by their descendants. This renders the sense of many of the Celtic names, as pronounced in
EngUsh incomplete, unless where they are coupled ; as is generally done with the English appella-
tive river, or water: so the Du, or Bow, is equally indefinite as the black; but if it is called
BiM'iver, or Dow-water, this comes up to the sense of the real Celtic names, Avon-Du, and UiKje-
Doiv. These general intimations are here given, to save the unnecessary repetition of them with the
explanations, which are offered in these notes.
(8) These streams, as well as the Bain in Hertfordshire, the Banon in Pembrokeshire, and the
several rivers named Ban, in Ireland, derive their names from the Gaelic Ban, Bain, denoting the
white colour of their water. Bainac, and Bannoc, are diminutives, being applied to small streams.
(9) Bel-aw (Brit.) signifies a tumultuous or raging stream : Bal-aw (Brit.) means an efflux of
water.
(10) Those waters derive their names from the British Bern, to flow; Bcrw, Berwi/, a boiling, or
ebullition : whence also the name of Brivie-hnm, a small stream in Kincardineshire.
(11) There is also the Branio, in Denbighshire; and Bran appears in the names of several other
streams. Bran (Brit.) signifies what risis over. Bran, in the old Gaelic, means a stream. Bran,
says Macpherson, denotes in Gaelic a imuntain stream. Oarrio-thura.
40
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In SotJTH-BniTAiN ;
Colder falls into the sea in tlie south-west of Cum-
berland.
Cain joins the Avon in Wiltshire.
Caifiie, in Caemiarthenshu-e.
Char falls into the sea at Char-mouth in Dorset-
shire ;
CAnr-well, in Northamptonshire ;
Car, a winding rivulet, falls into the Tarf in
Brecknockshire ;
Carraii joins the Severn in Gloucestershire.
Carno falls into the Severn, Montgomeryshire ;
Cerne falls into the Frome in Dorsetshire.
Churn falls into the Isis in Wiltshire.
Cliii/d runs through Strath-Clntjd in Denbigh and
Flint shires, and falls into the L-ish Sea ;
Clifdan and Clijdach are the names of several
streams in Wales.
Cluyn, in Flintshire.
Clun rises in Clun Forest, Shropshire.
In Noeth-Beitain :
Colder, in Badenoch, Inverness-shire ;
Calder, in the south of Eenfrewshire (12).
Cahicr joins the Avon in Lanarkshire (13).
Cathie falls into the Don near Aber-catie in Aber-
deenshu-e (14).
Char joins the Dj-e in Kincardineshire ;
Carron, in Stirlingshire ;
Carron, in Kincardineshire ;
Carron, in the north, and Carron in the south-
west of Eoss-shire ;
CarroH, in Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire (15).
Cairn joins the Nith in Dumfriesshire ;
Cairn, a rivulet in Carrick, Ayrshire (16).
Churn, a rivulet in Perthshire (17).
Cliide runs through Strath-Clyde, in Lanarkshire,
and falls into the Frith of Clyde ;
Cludan joins the Solvyay Frith, in the east of
GaUoway (18).
Clune, a rivulet in Moulin parish, Perthshire (19).
(12) Caleddur (Brit.), signifies the hard water : and so does Calh-dur, in ancient Gaulish. Cell-divr
(Brit.), and Coill-dnr (Ir.), means the woody water. The banks of all the Calders in North-Britain
are still covered with natural wood. Loch Lomond of the present time was anciently called by the
British name of Lijn-Caledur, as we learn from Richard.
(13) There is also Callen river in Kilkenny, Leland.
(14) Another small stream, named Catie, falls into the Dee, at Inver-C'a^jV, in Aberdeenshire. Here
we see the Irish Inver applied to the influx of one Catie into the Dee, and the British Aber applied to
the rnflus of the other Catie, into the neighbouring river Don.
(15) The Celtic Car, of which Char is the obhque case, signifies a bending, a winding ; and
Car-an means the idndimj water, which is highly characteristic of all those Carrons, as well as of
Carron river, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland. Car-on (Brit.), signifies a strong or rough stream,
which is also applicable to the current of those rivers.
(16) Cam (Brit.), signifies a stoney or rough stream. These waters may, however, have
derived their names from some Cairns, or funeral monuments of the ancient people, on their
banks. There was a rivulet Cam, near Bodmin, in Cornwall ; as we may see in Wilham of
Worcester, 108.
(17) Churn, or Chuirn, is the oblique case of Cam.
(18) There is also a stream named Clyde, in Ireland. Cli/d (Brit.), signifies waim, sheltered:
so, these rivers derive their names from the warm sheltered natm-e of their vales or straths : the
'i .-trad-Clnyd, in Wales, and Strath-Clyde, in North-Britain, are both remarkably warm valleys.
The names of Clydan and Clydavh are diminutives, and are applied to several streams that run through
sheltered vales.
(-,'.}) Cluain, Cluan (h.), signifies a sheltered place. Clon, Cluain (Cornish), means a den.
Ch. I. — Tlie Aboriyines.'\
Op NOETH-BEITAIN.
41
In South Britain.
Come, a rivulet, near Manchester, in Lancashire.
Corre, in Shropshire.
Cowen joins the Towa at Abercowen, Caermar-
thenshire.
Crajj joins the Usk in Brecknockshire ; Cray falls
into the Derent in Kent.
Cunnoti joins the Tave in Glamorganshire.
Ciinnon in Merionethshire.
Dairan in Caernarvonshire.
Derbeck joins the Trent in Nottinghamshire.
Dour, or Doir, joins the Minnow in Herefordshire.
Dean joins the Snite in Nottinghamshire (26).
Don runs by Doncaster, and joins the Aire in York-
shire.
In NoBTH Britain.
Cornie, a rivulet, falls into the Forth at Abercorn.
Linlithgowshire.
Cornj joins the S. Esk in Forfarshire (20).
Coivie falls into Stonehaven Bay in Kincardine-
shire.
Cree, or Cratj, falls into the Solway in Gallo-
way (21).
Cannon runs through Strathconnon into Cromarty
Frith, Eoss-shire (22).
Dair joins the Clyde in Lanarkshire (23).
Durback joins the Nethy in Elginshire (24).
Dour falls into the Forth at Aberdour in Fife-
shire (25).
Dean joins the lala in Forfarshire.
Don falls into the sea at Aberdeen.
(20) Coi'y (Brit.) signifies what makes turns or rounds. Cor (Ir.) means a twist, a turn. The
names of these streams may, however, have been taken from the glens or valleys through which they
run. Coire in the Gaelic, means a deep holloio or small valley.
(21) Cra! (Brit.) signifies what is fresh or brisk: whence the name of the Criie, perhaps, which
joins the Tave at Aber-crue, in Glamorganshire.
(22) Con-an (Brit, and Ir.) signifies the narrow or contracted stream. Cwn-an (Brit.) means the
water which is apt to rise ; a quality that is remarkable in the Eoss-shire Connon, from the number of
mountain streams that fall into it. The Comry, in Caernarvon, derives its name from the same source ;
the final uy and an both signifying water, a river.
(23) There is also the Dery, a small stream in Merionethshu-e. Dar, Daran (Brit.) mean the sono-
rous or noisy stream. Dear, in Bas-Breton, and Der, in ancient Gaulish, signify rapid. The Dair
and the Dairan are both rapid and noisy. Dyr, in ancient Gaulish, means a water, a river being a
variation of Dnr.
(24) Dur, or Dour, in all the dialects of the Celtic, signifies water, and it is compounded in the
names of rivers in Britain, in Ireland, and on the continent. Dar-back (Brit.), Dur-beay (Ir.) signify
the small water. The names of these two streams may, however, have been formed by adding, pleo-
nastically, the Saxon beo, signifying a torrent, a rivulet, to the previous Celtic appellation of Dur ; so
Avon-river, Esk-water, Pow-burn, Aid-burn, are pleonasms of the same nature, which were formed by
adding sjmonymous Gothic or English words to the original Celtic terms.
(25) There is also the Dour, which falls into the sea at Ah&v-dour, in Aberdeenshire. These and
various other streams derive their names from the Celtic Dour ; Dur signifjring water.
(26) Dane is the name of a stream which joins the Weever in Cheshire.
Vol. L G
42
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In South Britain.
Dun, in Lincolnshire.
Devon joins the Trent in Leicestershire.
Davon falls into the Weaver in Cheshire.
Davon joins the Severn at Aberdavon, Glamorgan-
shire.
Dee runs through Merioneth and Flint, and falls
into the Irish sea.
Dee, in Louth county, Ireland.
Dwy-'va.-ai, and Divy-v&ch (the great Dwy, and
little Diry), in Arvon, Wales.
Doiv falls into the ^ye in Yorkshire.
Dove falls into the Trent in Derbyshire.
There is Diwe river in Kildare county, and several
other streams of the same name in Ireland.
In NoETH Beitain.
Down, or Dun, runs from Loch-Z)o!™ into the
Irish sea, in Ayrshire (26).
Devon runs through Glen Devon in Perthshire.
South-Z)«ron falls into the Forth in Clackmannan-
shire ; Black- Z)a!'o« in Fifeshire (27).
Dee falls into the sea at Aberdeen.
Dee falls into the Solway at Kii-kcudbright, in
Galloway (28).
Dye, in Kincardineshire.
Dye, in Berwickshire.
Z)oM'-uisk, in Cunningham, Ayrshire.
Dow-nisk, in Carrick, Ayrshire.
Duff, or Z)wi'-rivulet, in Forfarshire.
(26) Dwn (Brit.), Don (Ir.), signify a dark or dusky colour, such as these rivers exhibit,
from the mossy tinge of their waters. Dtvvyn (Brit.), Domhuin or Douin (Ir.), mean deep,
■A quality for which the Aberdeenshire Don and the Ayrshire Doun are remarkable. There
is a river named Don in the county of Antrim, Ireland, and there are rivers of the same name on the
continent.
(27) The name of both the Devnns was formerly Dovan, as appears from a charter of Robert IH. to
the burgh of Inverkeithing. Dobhan, or Dovan (Ir.), signifies the boisterous or swelling water, which
is highly characteristic of the Scottish Devons. This quality of the larger Devon struck Lord Stirling,
who cries out :
" But, dangerous Doven, rumbling through the rockes,
" Would scome the rainebowe with a new deluge."
(28) De (Brit.), signifies impulse, action, and so denotes the rapid flow of those streams. Dee,
in the name of those rivers may, however, be a variation of Dwy or Dye, which is the pronun-
ciation of the British Du, signifpng a black or dark colour : whence the rivers Dwy and Dye
derived their names, owing to the dark colour of their waters. The British Dn corresponds with
the Irish Duhh, which is pronounced Duv and Dow ; and hence Dow and Dow-\xii)s., the names
of several streams m South and North-Britain, signify the black ivater. The Dee in Wales issues
from Lyn-Tegid, and a stream which falls into the top of this lake is called Du. It is equally
remarkable that the upper part of the Galloway Dee is called now the Black water of Dee. This,
then, is a pretty plain intimation that the present names of Dee are merely variations of Du, Dwy,
and denote the dark colour of the waters.
Ch. I. — The AhorujinesJ]
Op NORTH-BRITAIN.
4a
In South-Bbitain :
Dovie, or Dyvi, falls into tlie sea at Aberdovy in
Merionetbsliii-e.
Dulas joins the Wye in Brecknockshire.
Dulas joins the Tow}-, and falls into the sea in
Caenuartheiishi re.
Dulas, two of this name fall into the Severn in
Montgomeryshire.
Dulas joins the Dovey in Montgomeryshire.
Dulas joins the Neath in Glamorganshire.
Dulas joins the Stour in Dorsetshire.
Douglas falls into the mouth of the Riddle in Lan-
cashire.
Donlas joins the Ython in Radnorshire.
Eden falls into the Solway Frith in Cumberland.
Eden falls into the Medway in Kent.
Esk in Devonshire.
Esk falls into the sea at Whitby in Yorkshire.
Eslc falls into the sea at Ravenglas in Cumberland.
Eskir joins the Usk in Brecknockshire.
Ewes, a rivulet, joins the Tyne below Newcastle.
In Noeth-Beitain :
Duvie. or Diiie, joins the Earn, or Fiudhom, in
Elginshire (29).
Douglas runs through Douglasdale, and joins the
Clyde in Lanarkshire.
Douglas falls into Loch Fyue in Argyllshire.
Duylas falls into Loch Lomond at Inver-Uglas,
Dumbartonshire.
Duylas, another stream of this name, falls into
Loch Lomond at Inver-Uglas, eight miles
above the former.
Duglas falls into the Yarrow in Selkirkshire
(30).
Eden falls into the sea in Fifeshire.
Eden joins the Tweed in Roxburghshire (31).
Esk (South) and Esk (North) fall into the sea in
Forfarshire.
Esk (South) and Esk (North) falls into the Forth
near Inver-esk in Edinburghshire.
Esk falls into the Solway in Dumfries-shire (32).
Elvis, a rivulet, joins the Esk in Dumfries-
shire (33).
(29) Those streams may have derived their names from the British Du, Irish Dubh, a black or dark
colour ; so Duv-ui, the black water ; or from the British Dwvui, signifying the deep or full stream.
The Duvie in Elginshire is reruarkable both for its dark colour and for its depth.
(30) Dulas and Du-glas (Brit, and Ir.) signify the dark blue stream. The difference in the foim of
the name arose from the g being frequently dropped in composition by the Biitish, whence Du-glas
becomes Du-las. Near to the lower Dulas, which falls into Loch Lomond, another stream of lighter
coloured water falls into the same lake, and is called Fin-las, signifying the /t^A<-blue water, in con-
tradistinction to the i^H-glas. This curious fact shows the acute discrimination of the Celtic peuple
who imposed all those significant names.
(31) Eddain (Brit.) signifies a gliding stream. This is, in fact, the characteristic of all those rivers.
(32) The above rivers, and many other streams named Esk and Uisk, derive their appellations from
Esc, Wysc, in ancient Gaulish, Wysg in British, Ease, Uisg, in Irish, signifying water, a stream, a river.
This ancient word also forms the names of several streams in Ireland.
(33) Ewis is merely a varied form of Uisg or Wysg, hence, perhaps, the names of the several rivers
Ouse in Britain.
&2
44
An account
In South-Beitain :
Ey falls into the Stour in Leicestershire.
Eye (Little) falls into the Weilan in Leicester-
shire. '
Yea joins the Parrot in Somersetshire.
Eii-einiy in Glamorganshire.
Fiddy joins the Tamar in Cornwall.
Fidin in Monmouthshire.
Gade falls into the Coin in Hertfordshire.
Garway in Caermarthenshire.
Garra, or Garran, in Herefordshire.
Gelt joins the Irthing in Cumberland.
Glen water in Leicestershire.
Grant falls into the Cambridgeshire.
[Book l.—T/ie Roman Period.
In Noeth-Bbitain :
Ey falls into the sea at Eyemouth, Berwickshire.
Ey joins the Dee at Inver-ey in Aberdeenshire.
hoch-Ey in Eoss-shire.
Ea joins the Annan in Dumfriesshire (34).
Eveny in Forfarshire (35).
Fiddich runa through Glen-Fiddich into the Spey
in Banffshire (36).
Gadie joins the Urie in Aberdeenshire.
Garry joins the Tay in Perthshire.
Garry in Glen-garry, Inverness-shire (37).
Gelt joins the Lugar in AjTshire (38).
Glen water in Kirkcudbright Stewartry (39).
Grant falls into Cromarty Frith in Eoss-shire (40).
(34) Aw, Ew, Ea, Ey, in the old Celtic, signify water, a river. Aw in the British means a fluid,
a ftoicing water, and is the root of a number of words denoting fluidity. Aw, Ew, and Ey, says
Gebelin, are primitive words that signify water everywhere in Europe. This ancient radical is stUl pre-
served in its simple form in the names of several other waters in Britain and Ireland, as the Aw river
and Loch-.4!(' in Argyllshire ; the Aw-heg, or little Aw, in Cork, Ireland ; the Ew river and Loch-
Ew in Eoss-shire ; the Ea river and Loch-£a in Ireland. It also forms a compound in the names of a
number of British and Irish waters.
(35) These are merely the diminutives of Aven, a river, a stream. Vulgar pronunciation has in
other instances converted the Avon into Evan, as .Bra?i-dale for Avon-dale in Lanarkshire, Evan-dale
for ^I'oji-dale in Gloucestershire.
(36) Fwd-uy, Fwd-au, and Fwd-ach (Brit.) signify a rapid water. This is characteristic of the
Fiddich in Banffshire ; but as the glen through which it rans is full of wood, the name may be derived
from Fiodhach (Ir.), signifying ivoody.
(37) Gam- (Brit.), Garhh (Ir.), signify what is rough, a torrent ; whence also the characteristic
names of Garve river in Eoss-shire, Gara river and Loch-Gaj-n in the county of Sligo, L-eland, and a
number of smaller torrents named Garv-ald and Ald-yarve.
(38) The above streams may have derived their names from the British Gel, signif3ang aptness
to Jiow.
(39) Those waters, like many others, have taken their names from the valleys through which they
nm. Glyn (Brit.), Gleann (L.) signify a valley more deep and narrow than the dale to which the Irish
Strath is applied.
(40) Grant (Ir.) signifies yrey; Gran (Brit.) means precipitous, shelvy.
Ch. I. — The Ahorigines.'\
Of NORTH-BRITAIN.
45
In South-Beitain :
Irvoii falls into the Wye in Brecknockshire.
Ken runs by Kendal, and falls into the sea in West-
moreland.
Ken joins the Ex in Devonshire.
Lavern falls into Lyn-Tegid in Merionethshire.
Leith in Westmoreland joins the Eden.
Laith, which is now called Dijji, in Merioneth-
shire.
Ledev joins the Conway in Caernarvonshire.
Leveii falls into the sea at Port-Leven in Corn-
wall ; Leven, composed of the White Leven
and Black Leven, falls into the Solway Frith
in Cumberland ; Leven falls into Morecambe-
bay in Lancashire.
Liver falls into the Lemord in Cornwall.
In Noeth-Beitain :
Irvine falls into the sea in Ayrshire (41).
Ken in Galloway, after receiving smaller streams,
forms Loch-A''eji, and then takes the name of
the inferior Dee, which joins it (42).
Laveran joins the White Cart in Renfrew-
shire (43).
Leith falls into the Forth in Edinburghshire.
Leith-an joins the Tweed in Peeblesshire (44).
Leader joins the Tweed in Berwickshire (4.5).
Leven rans from Loch-Lomond, which was an-
ciently called Iioch-Leren, into the Frith of
Clyde at Dumbarton ; Leven runs from Loch-
Leven into the Frith of Forth at Leven ; Loch-
Leven in Ai-gyllshire (46).
Liver falls into Loch-Aw at laver-Liver in Argyll-
shire (47).
(41) The above streams probably derived theii' names from the verdure of their banks. Ir-vin
(Brit.) signifies a green margin.
(42) Cain (Brit.) signifies white, clear, or beautiful, whence also the names of the Cain in Merioneth-
shire, the Ken, a rivulet in Somersetshire, the Kennet that joins the Thames in Berkshire, and Kennen
in Oaermarthenshire, which are merely diminutives of Ken. There are several rivers in Wales named
Can-dur, that is, the white or bright water.
(43) Llavar (Brit.), Labhar (Ir.), means sonorous, sounding, or noisy. Laver-an, the noisy
stream.
(44) The general characteristic of these streams is their swelling suddenly into a flood ; and from
this circumstance they appear to have got their names from the British Llith, signifying a, flood or
inundation. Leith-an is the diminutive.
(45) Lai-dur (Brit.) signifies the muddy or discoloured water. The Leader is frequently dis-
coloured by a mixture of I'eddlsh mud which is washed down by the stream. The name may also be
derived from the British Lai-dur, signifying the lesser water, as both these streams are small compared
to the rivers which they join. Laidur was no doubt the old name of these waters, as the vale of the
Leader is still called Lauder-dale, and the town on its banks Lauder. Camden, indeed, calls it the
riveret of Lader.
(46) There are also other rivers of this name, as the Leven in Gloucestershire and the Leven in
Yorkshire. The names of the whole are derived from Lleven (Brit.), Leva (Corn.), signifying smooth,
which is characteristic of all those riverets.
(47) Lliv-er (Brit.) signifies the floodg water, whence also the rivers Liffar and Liffy in Ireland
derived their names, being apt to flood.
46
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In South-Bbitain :
Lyn joins tlie Ouse at Lynn-Eegis in Norfolk.
Line falls into the sea in Northumberland.
Line falls into the Trent in Nottinghamshire.
Line in Cumberland.
Lain or Layn, a rivulet, joins the Allain near
Bodmin in Cornwall.
Lue falls into Lyn-Tegid in Merionethshire.
Luyan in Caernarvonshire.
Laugher falls into the sea in Caermarthenshire.
I/une or Liione falls into the sea in Yorkshire.
Liine falls into the Tees in Yorkshire.
Luny falls into the sea in Cornwall.
Lyd joins the Tamar in Cornwall.
Lyd joins the Thrushel in Devonshire.
Lidden joins the Stour in Dorsetshire.
In Noeth-Britain :
Lyne joins the Tweed in Peeblesshire.
Lyne falls into the Frith of Forth in Fifeshire.
Lyon rises from 'Loch.-Lyon and joins the Tay in
Perthshire.
Loin or Lyon runs through Jjoch-Lyon and joins
Moriston river in Inverness-shire.
Loin joins the Avon in Banffshire.
Various rivulets in Galloway are called Lane (48).
Luy joins the Dee in Braemar, Aberdeenshire.
Lewie, a rivulet, joins the Proson in Forfar-
shire (49).
Liirfar joins the Ayr in AjTshire.
Locher in Dumfriesshire.
Locher joins the Gryffe in Eenfrewshire (50).
Lunan falls into the sea in Lunan parish, Forfar-
shire.
Lunan, a rivulet, joins the Airdle in Perth-
shire (51).
Lid, which is now called ZzVZ-dal, runs thiough
ii'rf'sdale in Eosburghshire, and joins the
Esk in Dumfriesshire (52).
(48) TJyn (Brit.) signifies what proceeds or is in motion, what flows, water, a lake, a pool. The
word appears in the names of a number of running waters as well as lakes. TJion (Brit.) is the plural
of Lli, a flood, a stream. Loin in the Gaelic signifies a rivulet, whence several small streams in
Galloway are termed Lane, which is merely a modern corruption of the Gaelic word.
(49) Lua (It.) signifies ivater, and Liia means swift; Llw (Brit.) denotes what has aptitude
of motion, and Liu signifies what is all in motion. The Luy in Braemar is a rapid mountain stream.
(50) There is also a stream named Locher in Lanarkshire. Llwchir (Brit.), Lochur (Ir.)
mean a stream that forms pools, and this is descriptive of all those waters. Lugyr or T^oegyr
(Brit.) signifies what breaks out. This is applicable to the Ayrshire Lugar, which bursts out into
floods.
(51) There is also the Lune in Durham, and the Lune or Loijne that falls into the L-ish sea in
Lancashire. Lun, Lon, Lyn, and lAnn are merely varied foiTus in different dialects of the same
Celtic word, signifying what is in motion or what flows, water, a lake, a pool. It appears
somewhat differently formed in the names of a number of lakes and waters, particularly such as
form pools in their course, like the riverets above-mentioned. The Lunan in Angus, from its tranquil
flow, settles into a number of small pools, and it runs through three considerable lakes. Ltinan
and Luny are diminutive forms of the word. Lion (Brit.) signifies tranquil, and Llon-an or
Llon-uy, the tranquil water, a characteristic which is applicable to the still flow of those several
streams.
(52) Llid (Brit.) signifies a violent effusion, a gush, a gushing. Lid in ancient Gaulish
Ch.I.— The Aborigines.'] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 47
In South-Bbitain : In North-Beitain :
May falls into the sea in Caernarvonshire. 3fat/ joins the Earn at Inver-raay in Peith-
shire (52).
Milk, a rivulet, joins the Tyne in Durham. Milk joins the Annan in DumWesshire (53).
Medlocl; a rivulet at Manchester, in Lancashire. Medlock, a rivulet, joins the Clyde in Lanarkshire
There are in Lancashire the Medlock, the (54). There are in Lanarkshire the l/ed/oft,
Calder, and the Dowjlas. the Calder, and the Douglas.
Never, or Nevern, falls into the sea in Pembroke- Naver, or Navern, runs from Looh-iVaver, through
shire. Strath-iVarec, into the sea in Suther-
land (55).
Nid, or Nith, joins the Ouse in Yorkshire. Nith, formerly Nid, falls into the Solway Frith
in Dumfriesshire.
Neth, or Neath, and iVeaiA-Vachan (Little Nethy in Perth, Nethy in Elgin, and Nethau in
Neath) both fall into the sea in Glamorgan- Lanarkshire (56).
shire.
signified hasty, rapid. This description is characteristic of the Lid in Roxburghshire ; as indeed we
learn from Armstrong, who was born on this mountain stream :
" the crj'stal rivulet, that o'er
" A stoney channel, rolls its rapid maze,
" Swarms with the silver fry."
Drummond, in his Forth Feastiny, mentions the " Lid, with curled streams," whence we learn that
the secondary name Lid-dal is a modern corruption, by confounding the Saxon term for the valley
with the British name of the river. In the same manner, Tiueed is corruptly called Twed-dal in the
poem of Peebles to the Play; and a stream in Gloucestershire is now called Aven-dale or Evan-dale.
The Lyd in Devonshire, forms a remarkable cataract at Lyd-ford.
(52) Mai, My-ai, (Brit.) signified the agitated or troubled water, and is, in fact, highly descriptive
of those streams.
(53) ]\[ilk is the modernized form of Melc, the ancient name of those streams. In a number of
charters during the twelfth century the Milk in Dumfriesshire is uniformly written Melc ; and the
place at its influx into the Annan is called Aber-melc in the Jnquisitio of David, anno 1116. These
coincidences prove that the name Melc is as old as British times, and must have been applied by the
first people. As the word has been long obsolete in the language of their descendants, its proper
meaning cannot easily be traced.
(54) Med-loc, or Med-luc, says Whitaker, is a compound of two British words which signify water
or a quantity of water. Hist. Manchester, v. i., p. 290. Mawd-liich (Brit.) signifies a slow flowing
water that settles into pools, and this applies to the qualities of both these streams ; whence also the
name of the Mawdd-ach (slow stream) in Merionethshire.
(55) Never (Brit.) signifies the gentle stream. Var, Par, signify water ; and hence the names of
many rivers, lochs, and streams. Geb. Monde Prim., v. vii., p. 12-83. So Na-var may mean simply
the water. The river Var-ar was the ancient boundary of the Roman dominions in North-Britain, and
is now called Beauly river ; but the valley through which it runs is still called Strath-/a;-ar. There
is a Varus river in Ptolomy's map of Gaul.
(56) Nedd, or Neth (Brit.), denotes a stream that fonns whirls or turns. This etymon applies well
to the ivhirling roll of the Nith and Nethys. Nethy and Nethan are diminutives of the word.
48
An account
In South-Bhitain :
Ore falls into Orford haven; and
0/--well falls into Orwell haven in Suffolk.
Fever falls into the Weever in Cheshire.
Poole, on an inlet of the sea in Dorsetshire.
Liver-Poo/, at the mouth of the Mersey in Lanca-
shire.
Mi/e joins the Darwin in Yorkshire.
Rey joins the Isis in Wiltshire.
S/iele falls into the Tyne in Northumberland.
Tiiir falls into the Bristol Channel in Devon.
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In North-Beitain :
Ore joins the Lochty in Fifeshire.
On; or Urr, runs from Loch- ?7jt into the Solway
Frith in Galloway (57).
Peffer (East) and Peffer (West) unite and fall into
the sea in Haddingtonshire (58).
There are divers creeks or inlets of the sea around
the west coast of North-Britain which are
called Pool, as Ulla-poo/, PooWEw, Pool-
iculen in Eoss-shire (59).
Rye joins the Garnock in Dal-?')/ parish, A3'r-
shire (60).
Shell Water and Loch-Sheil in the north-west of
Inverness-shire.
Twj in Perthshii'e falls into the sea at Aber-
Tay(6\).
(57) Oer (Brit.) cold, of a cold nature ; but these streams probably derived their names from the
British Wyr, denoting their brisk flow. Ur, Or, in Bas-Breton, signify embouchure. Ura, in Basque,
is applied to a water, a river. See Ure, Ury, after.
(58) There is also a stream named Peffer, which runs through Strath-Pejf'cr into the Cromarty
Frith in Eoss-shire ; and a rivulet of the same name falls into the sea at Inver-Pe/?'e/' in
Forfarshire.
(59) Picll (Brit.), Poitll (AiTnoric), Poll (Gaelic) signify a ditch, a standing water, a pool. PwU
and Puull, in the ancient language of Gaul had the same meaning. Bullet. The Anglo-Saxon Pol,
and the English Pool, are from the British Pivl. This word is in all the dialects of the Celtic, but
not in any of the pure Gothic dialects.
(CO) There is also a stream named Ret, or Rea in Oxfordshire ; a Rea in Shropshire ; and a
Rhiw in Montgomeryshire. Rhe (Brit.), Rea, Riea (Ir.) signify swift, rapid, a rapid course.
The Eye in Ayrshire is a rapid stream. Ri and Rhiu, in ancient Gaulish, signified a stream, and the
tenn is still retained in Auvergne. Bullet. Rhiu is doubtless the root of the modem French
(61) There is also the Taw in Glamorganshire ; the Ta-Loch in Wexford, and Tay river in
Waterford, Ireland. Ta, Taw (Brit.), signify what spreads or expands, also tranquil, quiet. Tay is
the English pronunciation of the British Taw. Both these fine rivers are remarkable for their noble
expansions. The Tay in the latter part of its course expands into a frith twenty miles long, and from
one to three miles broad ; and in the same manner the Devonshire Tau spreads out into a frith eight
miles long and one mile broad. The Solway Frith, from its expanse, was actually called Tan by the
Britons at the epoch of Agricola's invasion, as we learn from Tacitus, who has the same word under
the form of Tau. The antiquaries were deluded by their own inattention to apply the Tau of Tacitus
to the Toy in Perthshire.
Ch. 1.— The Aborigines.^ Of NOETH-BEITAIN.
49
In South-Beitain :
Tame in Buckinghamsliire ; Tame in Staffordshire.
Teivi, or Tivy, rises at Llyn Teivi, and falls into
the sea in Cardigansliire ; Taiy, or Theve,
falls into the Tamar in Devonshire.
Tvrch joins the Tawye in Brecknockshire ; Turch
in Montgomeryshire.
Tweed in Cheshire. [Carey.]
Tyne South and Tyne North falls into the sea at
Tynemouth in Northumberland ; Tyne joins
the Trent in Staffordshire ; Teyn or Teign
falls into the sea at Tez^ramouth.
Uske rises in Brecknock, and falls into the sea in
Monmouthshire.
Wisk joins the Swale in Yorkshire.
In Noeth-Beitain :
Tema joins the Ettrick in Selkirkshire (62).
Teviot, or Tiviot, runs through Teviotdale, and
joins the Tweed in Eoxbiirghshire (63).
Turk runs through Glen-Turk in Perthshire ;
Turky, a rivulet in Forfar (64).
Tweed in Berwickshire (65).
Tyne runs by Tyningham into the sea in Hadding-
tonshire ; Tynet, a rivulet, falls into the sea
in Banffshire ; Tian falls into the sea in Jura
Island, Argyllshire (66).
Uisye-dviv joins the Earn in Elginshire.
Du-uisk (Black-Uisk) in Cunningham ; and
Tiu-uisk in Carrick, Ayrshire.
(62) The above riverets, as well as the Tame in Devonshire and the Tame in Cheshire, derive
their names from the British Tain, Tern, expanding or spreading, which are derivatives of Ta,
Taw. Tarn in the ancient Gaulish was applied to a river, a running water. Bullet connects it with
the Greek Potamos. Gebelin exhibits the same word differently : nor-AMos, fleuve ; mot-a-mot, eau
grande.
(63) Teivi, or Tavi (Brit.), signifies what expands or spreads; what has a tendency to expand or
spread. Tevig, expanding, spreading over. The characteristic of these several streams is a tendency
to spread. The root of all these names is Ta, Taw, what spreads or expands; whence the names of the
Tave in Glamorganshire, the Tave in Pembrokeshire, and others. Tav in ancient Gaulish was applied
to a water, a river, the same as in Britain.
(64) There are also the Turch that falls into Lyn Tegid in Merionethshire, and another
streamlet named Turch which joins the Cothy in Caermarthenshire. Turch (Brit.) signifies what
burrows or goes into the ground, and hence it is the appellative for a swine. Turc in Armoric,
and Turc, Tore in Irish, have the same meaning. On the Turk in Perthshire there are several
hideous dens, one of which, tradition says, was the haunt of a wild boar which infested the
country.
(65) Tuedd (Brit.) signifies what is on a side or border ; the border or limit of a coimtry.
(66) A small stream named Teyn joins the Dove in Derbyshire. Tain in the British anciently
signified a river, a running water, the same as Avon. Tain signified the same in the ancient Gaulish ;
and in the kindred dialect of the Irish it still means water. It appears in somewhat varied forms in
the name of a number of streams. In the country of the Vecturiones in North-Britain there is a river
named Tina. Ptolomy.
Vol. I. H
jjQ AnAOCOUNT Book I. — The Roman Period.
In South-Britain : In North-Britain :
rr*i-e-vachan (Little Uske) joins the Ushe in J/wjue-vagli-Loch in Benbecula-Island, Inverness-
Brecknockshire, shire (67).
lire in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Urie joins the Don at Inverurie, Aberdeen (68).
Willy joins the Avon at Salisbury in Wiltshire. Avon- Uille, the old name of the river Helmsdale
in Sutherlandshire (69).
Tarro joins the Douglas in Lancashire. Yarrow joins the Ettrick in Selkirkshire (70).
Tare falls into the sea at Yarmouth in Norfolk. Yair, a rivulet, falls into the Tweed in Selkirk-
Yare joins the Ex in Devonshire. shire.
Ython falls into the Wye in Eadnorshire. Ythan falls into the sea in Aberdeenshire (71).
m. Of miscellaneous DISTEIGTS
In South-Britain : In Nohth-Beitain :
Bala, at the issue of the Dee, from Llyn Tegid in Balloch, the old name of Tayniouth, where the
Merionethshire. river issues from Loch Tay in Perthshire.
(67) Wysg (Brit.), Uisge and Ease (Ir.), Wysc and Esc in ancient Gaulish, signify a current, a
course, a stream, a water. This word, in a slightly varied form, is common to all the dialects of the
Celtic, and is still retained in the names of many waters.
(68) A small stream named Owrie joins the Avon at liiyev-Owrie in Banffshire ; and there is the
Avon Ure in Roscommon, and Urrin river in Wexford, Ireland. The names of all these are from the
same source as the Ore and Ur before-mentioned. Guyr in composition, Wyr (Brit.), Ur (Ir.), signify
what is pure, lively, or brisk; so Avon-TT'^;', the pure stream, or the brisk flowing stream. This
characteristic is applicable to the Urie in Aberdeenshire, the Owrie in Banffshire, the Ur in Galloway,
and the Ore in Fife. Or, Owr, in ancient Celtic, are applied to streams of water, and so is Ura in
the Basque.
(69) The Avon Uile, or Iliijh, in Sunderland, is the Jla of Richard's map, and has its name, like the
other Has in North-Britain, from their rising rapidly after rains. Y-Uif, or Y-Uiv (Brit.), signifies
the _^ood, and Avon-Uile (Ir.) means the floody river. The Ila in Forfarshire is caMed Hylefhy
Giraldus Cambrensis in the twelfth century. This shows that the British name was then unchanged
except by prefixing the aspirate h as in pronunciation.
(70) The Yarroiv in Selkirkshire is a rough, rapid stream, as the name denotes. Gare in
Bas-Breton signified rapid. Gariv (Brit.), Garbh (L\), denotes what is rough or rugged, a tor-
rent. These by inflection become Gharw, which in composition is pronounced Yarw ; so Yarro
and Yarrow are merely variations of Garra, Garway, Garry, before explained. In the Scottish
as well as the old English g is frequently changed to y, as Yod for God, yate for gate, yeve for
give, etc.
(71) The Ythan in Aberdeenshire is the Ituna of Richard, and has the same origin with the Ituiia
or Eden which falls into the Solway, They all derive theu- descriptive names from the British
Eddain, or Ethain, which signifies gliding. The Ithan in Aberdeenshire is a slow running stream.
The Ithan in Hampshire derives its name from the same source.
Ch. I. — The Aborigines.']
Of NOETH-BRITAIN.
51
In South-Beitaik :
Bala, tlie issue from a lake near Snowdon, in Caer-
narvonshire.
Bangor, a town and Bishop's See in Caernar-
vonshire ; Bangor, a parish in Cardigan-
shire ; Bangor, in Mailers-Hundred, Flint-
shire.
Barry, a village and a church ; and Barry Isle,
in Denis, Powis-Hundred, Glamorganshire.
Brocly, in Dewysland-Hundred, Pembrokeshire.
Cil is the prefix to many names every where in
South-Britain ; as Kil-cwm, Kil-sant, Kil-
y-con, in Caermarthen ; .fftV-garran, Kil-
redin, &c., in Pembroke ; A7/-kenin, Kil-
uellon, Kil-wya, in Cardigan ; Kil-owen, in
Flintshire ; A'jY-gwri, in Cheshire ; Kil-
stock parish, in Somerset ; ATiV-dale and Kil-
low parish, in Yorkshire ; Kil-naersdon parish,
in Somerset ; A'z7-pisham parish, in Rutland ;
-and many others.
Cam is a compound in many names of places in
Wales and Cornwall ; aa Ca?-n-dydel, Carn-
Llenduel, Cam-wen, Car?i-vadrine, Carn-
Headwll, Carra-Uayd, in Wales : Carn-Bin,
Ca;vi-Eglos, Caivi-glas, Car/i-hell, Carre-kie,
Cajvi-sew, in Cornwall.
In Noeth-Beitain :
Balloch, near the issue of Leven river from Loch
Lomond (1).
Bangor, in the middle of Linlithgowshire ; Ban-
^or-Mount, in the north of Haddingtonshire ;
Banchory-Taima.n, and Barichory-Devimck,
two parishes in Kincardineshire (2).
Barry Parish, in Forfarshire ; Barry Castle and
HUl, in Alyth parish, Perthshire; Barry, in
the Boyne, Banffshire (3).
Brodie, in the parish of Dyke, Elginshire (4).
Cil is the prefix to many names every where in
Scotland ; as Kilbride, of which there are
eighteen ; Z'tV-chattan, of which there are six ;
Kil-colmMl, of which there are eight ; Eil-
donan, of which there are ten ; ^t7-michael,
of which there are six ; Kil-raory, of which
there are eleven ; iTi'Z-patrick and AtV-phe-
dir, of which there are eight ; and many
others (.5).
Cam, or Cairn, is a compound in many names of
places in North-Britain ; as Carn-bee, Carn-
gour, Carn-ock, in Fife ; Ca;vi-muck, Cairn-
banno, CaeVn-bulg, CairTi-glass, in Aberdeen ;
Carn-both, Carn-brue, Cara-wath, &c., in
Lanark (6).
(1) Bala CBrit.) signifies a discharge or issue, the issue of a river from a lake.
(2) Bangor (Brit.) Ban^cor means the principal row or circle, the upper and thickest row in a
wattle-fence ; metaphorically it means a defence or security, and was the name of some noted monas-
teries : one in Flintshire, one in Caernarvonshire, one in Ireland, and one in Belleisle, on the coast of
Brittany. In compounding Ban and cor the British turn it into Bangor, and the Irish into Ban-chor.
The adjuncts Tarnan and Devinick are the names of the two patron saints.
(3) Barry is from Bar (Brit.), Barr (Ir.) signifying the top, the summit, or end. Bar (Brit.) means
a bush ; it signified formerly, in Welsh, a Bush of sprigs, branches, or hair, saith Ed. Lhuyd ; the
plural is Baran : so there is 'Ba.rra.-Bush in Barra parish, Haddingtonshire.
(4) Bro-ty, or Bro-dy (Brit.), means the house in the lowland or plain country. This applies
strongly to Brodie, in Elginshire.
(5) Cil (Brit.), signifies a recess, a retreat ; Ceall, Ceil, Cill (Ir.), means a retreat ; a Cell, a chapel,
a burial place ; and hence the Cil or Kil became the prefix to the names of so many parishes. A
number of names all over Ireland have the prefix Kil. See the Index to Beaufort's Map, and Arch-
dall's Monast. Hiber.
(6) Cam, in the British and Irish, as well as in ancient Gaulish, signifies a prominence, a heap, a
52
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In South-Britain :
Craig is a compound in many names of places in
Wales; as Craig-An, in Denbigh, Craig-iu-
gannol, and Cmz^-du-uctaf, and Craig-y-Vis-
tyll, in Merioneth, Fen-craig, in Anglesey, Pen-
craig-va.ch in Glamorgan, &c.
Currg, a parish in Kirrier-hundred, in Cornwall ;
Curry parish, in Abdick-hundi-ed ; Curry, in
North Curry-hundred; and Curry, in Bul-
ston-hundred, Somersetshire.
Caer, or Car, signifying a fort, is a compound
in the names of several places ; as Caer-
narvon, Cficr-marthen, Cacr-hean, C<J«r-soose
Castle, Caer-went, Caer-philly Castle, Caer-
giby, Caer-wis, &c., in Wales ; Car-goal,
Cai'-hallock, Car-lisle, Ca?--minnow, Car-
hayes, &c., in Cornwall ; Casr-nerven castle
in Cumberland.
Derri, in Anglesey ; Derry, in Caerphilly-hun-
dred, Glamorganshire ; Dery water, in
Merionethshire.
In Noeth-Beitain :
Craig is a compound in many names of places in
North-Britain : as Craig-leiih. and Craig-
millar, in Edinburghshire ; CraiV^-darroch and
Craig-iovr, in Ayr ; Craig'-nethan and Craig-
nith, in Lanark ; Craig-haaih. and Crai^^-kelly,
in Fife ; Crai^-an-gour and Craz'^-na-cat, in
Aberdeen (7).
Curry parish and Curry, in Borthwick parish,
Edinburgh ; Curry duff, in Forfar ; Curry-
dow, Curn/-hill, in Kirkcudbright, and a
number of Corrys (8).
Caer, or Car, signifying a fort, is a compound in
the names of several places ; as Ca«r-lave-
rock and Wester Ker, in Dumfries ; Car-
riden, in Linlithgow ; Cnr-luke, Car-stairs,
Car-munnock, and Cor-michael parishes, in
Lanark ; Car-minnow, in Kircudbright ; Kei--
chesters, in Roxburgh ; at which places are
the remains of fortifications (9).
Derry, several in Wigton ; Berry, in Perth ;
Derry, in Forfar ; Derry-dn, in Elgin ;
i)«rr)/-meanoch and Derry-moie forests, in
Sutherland, &c. (10).
pile : and hence Cam was the term for the tumuli or funeral monuments, which the Celtic people
raised to commemorate their fallen warriors. Cam, in the Cornish, means a high rock, a collection of
rocks, a rocky place. The word Cair7i is applied in the names of hills : to some from having Cairns on
their tops ; to others, metaphorically, from their resemblance to a Cairn or heap.
(7) Craig, in the British and Irish, as well as in ancient Gaulish, signifies a rock, a rocky height.
The word is still used Ln the Scoto-Saxon language of North-Britain, as well as in the common speech
of South-Britain.
(8) Coire and Cuire, in Gaelic, signifies a deep hoUow, a ravine, and is frequently applied in the
topography to deep narrow glens ; Currie and Corrie are the forms which the word has acquired in
English pronunciation.
(9). Caer, in the British and Cornish, as well as in the ancient Gaulish, and Ca'ir, in Irish, signify
a wall or mound, a fortress. The remains of many British forts along the Forth, which had opposed
the Roman progress into North-Britain, still bear the ancient appellation of Caer in the corrupted form
of Keir.
(10) Dar, in the British and ancient Gaulish, signifies oak, oakwood ; plur. Deri: so Dar, in the
Cornish ; plur. Deru. Dair, Ir., means oak ; and Duire, a thicket, a grove, a wood, properly of oaks ;
in several parts the word is pronounced Derrie and Dirrie.
Ch. I. — The Aborigines.2
Of NOETH-BEITAIN.
53
In South-Beitain :
Dol, signifying a flat field or meadow, is applied
in the names of many places, as Dole and
Do^gelly in Merionelli, Dol-ana,g, Z)o?-artlian,
i)o/-gadvan, Dol-ohrim, Dol-j-coTslvryn, Dol-
y-fondy, in Montgomeryshire.
Dysart church in Eadnor, Di/serth castle in Flint,
Dyserth in Montgomery, Dysart in Breck-
nock, and Dysard in Cornwall.
Egles-ih-oxn parish, Yorkshire ; Egles-ion, several
in Dorset, Durham, and Lancaster ; Eglos-
hale and Eglos-kerrj parishes in Cornwall ;
Egiwys-hrewis and Eglwys-yhxa. parishes in
Glamorgan ; Eglwys-^eznen parish in Caer-
marthen ; Eglwys-Ynch. parish in Denbigh ;
Eghvys-aXey parish in Anglesey ; Eccles hall
in Stafford ; Eccles, two parishes of this
name in Norfolk.
Forden chapel and parish in Montgomeryshire ;
Fordon in Dickering-hundred, Yorkshire ;
Fordon in Shropshire.
Glas is a compound in the names of divers places,
as Glas-covah parish in Eadnor, Glas-coeA in
Denbigh, Glas-ter in Pembroke, Fen-glass in
Cardigan, Glas-an in Cumberland, Glas-
In Noeth-Beitain :
Dol and Dal, signifying a flat field or meadow,
are applied in the names of many places, as
Doll and Dollar in Clackmannan, Doll
in Forfar, Doll in Fife, J>o/-danid and
Dollhe&d. in Perth, Doll-aa parish in Elgin,
etc., and a number of names beginning with
Dal{\\).
Dysart town and parish in Fifeshire ; Dysart in
Maryton, Forfarshire ; Clachan-Dysart was
formerly the name of Glenorchy parish,
Argyllshire (12).
Eagles-hara parish in Eenfrewshire ; Eagles-
carnie in Haddington ; Eccles-]ohu in For-
farshire ; £cc/es-fechan parish in Dumfries ;
^ccZes-greig (now St. Cyrus) parish in Kin-
cardineshire ; Eccles-vasichzn. parish in Lin-
lithgow ; ^cc/e«-magirdle in Perthshire ;
Eccles parish in Berwickshire (13)
Fordun parish in Kincardineshire ; Fordun in
Auchterarder parish, Perthshire (14).
Glass is a compound in the names of divers places,
as Glas-gow town and Glas-hin in Lanark,
Glas-hoys in Aberdeen, Gto-cloon, Glas-
corry, and Glas-choil in Perth, Glas-dur
(11) Dol in the British and ancient Gaulish, and Dal in Lish, signifies a low, plain field, a fruitful
or pleasant mead on a river side.
(12) There are divers churches in Ireland called by this name, as Dysart church in Louth, Dysert
church in Eoscommon, Dysart church in Kerry, Dysart church in Queen's county, Dysart ruins and
Kil-dysari in Clare, Desart church in Cork, Z)esart-creat church in Tyrone, Dysart lodge in Meath,
etc. Dyserth castle in Flint is said to be so named from its high situation. Lew. Morris's Celtic
Eemains. Serth (Brit.), steep.
(13) Eglivys (Brit.), Egles and Eglos (Cornish), Eaglais (Ir.), signify a church. In a charter of
King William, and in a Bull of Pope Celestino III. in 1195, the church of St. Ninian, near Stirling, is
called Egglis, which name was changed in the thirteenth century to the Scoto-Saxon Kirk-tovm ;
hence also the French Eglise.
(14) Ford (Brit, and Com.) signifies a passage, a road, a way.
54
An account
[Book I. — The Roman Period.
In South-Beit AiN :
brook in Lancashire, Glas-cote in Warwick,
Glas-aeth and Glas-on in Cornwall, etc.
Kelly, Kellio, Killi-gorick, Kille-helan, Killy-
verth, Kille-vose, Killy-vroTgy, and several
other villages in Cornwall ; KelH-gsAe, Kele-
kenyn, Kelle-a,yion, etc., in Wales ; Kelley in
Devonshire, etc.
Ken, or Kin, is a compound in the names of
divers places, as ^ere-art in Eadnor, Ken-
narth parish in Caermarthen, ^en-cot in
Oxford, Kendal in Westmoreland, Kenn in
Somerset, ^en-net parish in Cambridge,
Kin-diQr in Derby. Kin-\Qj parish, Gloucester,
and many others.
Xare-cant parish in Gloucester, Zan-beach parish
in Cambridge, Za;i-garr in Nottingham. Lan
is prefixed to the names of many churches
and parishes in Wales and in Cornwall.
Lanerch, a market town in Anglesey ; Lanereh,
on Dovy river, Merionethshire : Lanerch
park, on the river Clwyd, in Denbighshire ;
ianej'cA-ciron in Cardiganshire ; Lanraclc in
Cornwall.
In Noeth-Bbitain :
in AjT, Glas-ivc in Inverness, in Arran,
and in Galloway ; G/ass-lochy in Kinross,
etc. (15).
Kelly in Aberdeenshire ; Kelly, several in Fife-
shire ; Kelly, several in Forfar ; Kelly in
Renfrew ; Kelly-more in AiTan island ;
Kelli-ness in Wigtown ; Kelloe in Berwick,
etc. (16).
Ken, or Kin, is a compound in the names of
divers places, as ^en-ard in Perth, ^iji-garth
parish in Bute, ^iji-caid in Stirling, ^en-dal
in Aberdeen, Ken-ny in Forfar, ^en-net in
Clackmannan, Kin-der in Kirkcudbright,
Kin-\ey in Fife, and many others (17).
Lan-hnie parish in Elginshire, a church dedicated
to St. Brigid ; Zare-morgan in Elginshire,
where there was a chapel dedicated to St.
Morgan (18).
Lanerk, the county town of Lanerkshire ; Lan-
rick in Fossaway parish, Lanrick in Kil-
madock parish, Lanrick in Dunblane
parish, and Lanrick in Callander parish,
Perthshire (19).
(15) Glas (Brit.) as an adjective signifies blue, pale grey, verdant, green ; and as a substan-
tive, a blue colour, a green, a green plat. Glas (Com.), green. Glas (Ir.) means grey, green,
verdant.
(16) Celli (Brit.) and Kelli (Cornish) signify a grove, a shady place, a copse-wood. Coille (Ir.)
means a wood.
(17) Cyn (Brit.), substantive, signifies the first or foremost part ; as an adjective, first, chief, fore-
most. Ceann, Cin (Ir.), means the chief, the head ; also an end or limit ; and so Cen, Cyn, in ancient
GauHsh ; so in Egypt and among the Hebrews Ken was applied to a prince, a priest, etc. Geb. Monde
Prim., torn, viii., p. 140-1.
(18) Llan, or Lan (Brit, and Com.), a church. It signified originally a place of meeting or
gathering together, an inclosure, a churchyard, in which the church was buUt. Lann (Ir.) also
signifies a church.
(19) Llannerch (Brit.) signifies a green, a bare place in a wood, a little yard. Lanherch (Corn.)
means a forest, a grove, a lavm, a bare place in a wood. Lanark is vulgarly pronounced Lanrick,
which has occasioned the corruption of several of those names.
: h. I.— The A borigines.] OF NORTH-BEITAIN.
55
In South Beitain :
Lin and Lyn are compounds in several names of
places, as Lynn and Lynn-Regis in Norfolk,
Lyn-del in Lancaster, Lin-ion parisli in
Hereford, Lin-ion parisli in York, Liiu
yerew, Zi/n-hoglilen, Zyn-Tegid, and many
others.
Manaclity in Llanylar-hundred, Oardigansliire.
Park is the name of several places, and a com-
pound in the names of others, as Park in
Brecknock, in Cornwall, in Southampton, in
Stafford, in the Isle of Wight, Park-hall in
Essex, Pa?'i--pill in Monmouth, Parl--ream in
Caermarthen, Parf-erissie, Par^-hale in Corn-
wall, etc.
Park is a compound in the names of naany places,
as Pen parish and Pen-ard in Somerset,
Pen-craig in Anglesej^ in Montgomery,
in Denbigh, in Glamorgan, etc. ; and Pen-
pont, in Cornwall, and in Brecknock ; Pen-
kuick, in Cornwall ; Pe;i-keth, in Lancaster ;
Pe?i-ooid, in Hereford ; Pe?i-rith, in Cumber-
land ; and many others.
Pill is the name of several places, and is a com-
pound in the name of others ; as Pile, in Gla-
morgan ; Pile of Foudray, in Lancashire ;
Pill, in Devon ; Pill, in Somerset ; Pill, in
Pembroke ; and Pill, in Cornwall ; Pz7-leth,
in Radnor ; Pj'Z-lesdow parish, in Dorset ; Pil-
lick parish, in Cornwall, etc.
In Noeth-Bbitain :
Lin and Lyn are compounds in several names of
places, as Linn in Fife, Forfar, and Dumbar-
ton ; Lyne in Peebles, Lin-Aa\& loch in Ayr,
Zw-ton parish in Peebles, and Lin-ion parish
in Roxburgh, Zzra-dores loch and abbey in
Fife, Lm-lithgow (20).
Monachty in the parish of Alves, Elgin-
shire (21).
Park is the name of divers places, and a com-
pound in the names of others, as Park in
Banff, Nairn, Kirkcudbright, Perth, Ayr, etc. ;
Paci-hall in Lanerk, Park-vnore and Park-
beg (Great Park and Little Park) in
Banff, Par^-hay in Wigton, and many
others (22).
Pen is a compound in the names of many places,
as Pen of Eskdalemuir, Pen-nagaul hills in
Dumfries, Pera-craig, a hill ia Hadding-
ton ; Pew-pont parish in Dumfries, Pen-
ycuick parish in Edinburgh, Pen-caithlan
parish in Haddington ; Peu-valla in Peebles,
Pe«-wally in Ayr ; P«?i-drich in Perth, &c.
(23).
Pill is a compound in the names of many places ;
as PiVe-ily, Pj7-mar, PjY-tarf, and Pj7-vealain,
in Perth ; PilVWie in Fife ; Pz7/-wal!s in
Berwick ; Pil-r\g in Edinburgh ; Pt7-whiiTy
in Wigton ; PzY-whirn and P!7-nour rivulets
in Kirkcudbright, etc. (24).
(20) Llynn (Brit.) signifies what is in motion or flows, water, a lake, a pool. Lyn (Corn.) means a
pond, a pool, a standing water. Linn (Ir.), a pond, a pool, any standing or lodged water : hence Dub-
lin, and many other names of places in Ireland.
(21) Manach-iy in the British, Cornish, and Irish, signifies the monks-house.
(22) Pare, Park, in British and Cornish, as well as in ancient Gaulish and Bas-Breton, signify a
field, an inclosure : and so Pairc in Irish.
(23) Pen in the British and Armoric, as well as in the ancient Gaulish, signifies a head, a chief, the
beginning, the top or summit, the end, a cape, a promontory. Pen or Pedn (Comish) means the head,
a hill, &c. The analagous word in the Gaelic is Cean, of which Cin is an inflection : so the names of
Peii-ard and 7v7ii-ard, Pen-craig and Kin-CTsdg, etc., are synonymous, as hath already been observed of
P««-arth and A'm-garth.
(24) Pill, in the British and Cornish, as well as in ancient Gaulish, signifies a strong hold, a
56 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
In South Beitain : In Noeth Beitain :
Rayiie parish in Esses. Rayne parisli in Aberdeenshire (25).
Rescob forest in North-hundred, Cardigan. Rescobie parish in Forfarshire.
Rosehjn in Cornwall, and several other names — i?ose/m in Edinburghshue, and several other names
names compounded of Ros and Rose (26). compounded of Ros and Rose (26).
Sorn, a village in Cornwall. Sorn parish in Ayrshire (27).
Tre is a prefix in many names, as JVe-evan, Tre- Tre is a prefix in divers names, as 2Ve-broun in
tire, ?Ve-vill, Tre-wen, in Hereford ; jP>-e-ton Lauder parish, BeiTvick ; Tre-horn in Cnn-
parish in Yorkshire, Tre-borough parish in ningham, Ayrshire ; Tre-iown in Kennoway,
Somerset, Tre-garon town and parish and Fifeshire . Tj-e-gallon in Troqueer parish,
Tre-villy parish in Cardigan; Tre-maine, Tre- Kirkcudbright; Tre-long in Dunnotter parish,
neglos, and Tre-wen parishes in Cornwall, Kincardineshire ; IV«-uchan in Port parish,
and many others. Perthshire, etc. (28).
Tre, or Trcf, is also an affix to several names, as Tre is also an aflBx to several names, Ochil-<re
Uchil-fref in Anglesey, Uchel-tref, a gentle- parish and castle, Ayrshire, Uchil-^re in
man's seat in Merionethshire, etc. in Penningham parish, Wigtown, Oehil-ire
Linlithgow, etc. (28).
Vai-is, on Cluyn river in Flintshire. Varis, the Roman name of Forres, on a small
water in Elginshire.
fortress, a secure place. Pill also means a sea-ditch or trench, filled at high-water, in South Wales
and in Cornwall. There are a number of old forts in North-Britain which are called by this name :
as the Peel of Garguunok and the Peel of Garden, on the river Forth in Stirling ; the Peel of Lin-
lithgow ; the Peel of Kirkintilloch, a fort on the Eoman wall ; the Peel castle in East Kilbride,
Lanarkshire ; the Peel fort at Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire ; the Peel fort in Castletown parish,
Eoxburgh ; and the old fortified castle of Livingston in Linlithgowshire is, in ancient writings, and
in Pont's Map of Lothian, called the Peel. The term Pill was also applied to a number of the bor-
der strengths. The Pill or Peel is unknown to the Irish language or Scoto-Irish, as well as to the
Teutonic.
(25) The name of this parish is probably derived from the British and Armoric Rhann, which
seems to be the same as the Irish Rann and Rain, a portion, a division, a division of lands among
brothers.
(26) Rhos (Brit.) signifies a mountain, meadow, a moist plain. Ros (Corn.) means a mountain, a
meadow, a valley or dale between hills, or attended with a promontory. Rhus (Brit.) signifies a start,
and is hence applied to a promontory. Ros in the old Celtic, and Ros in the Gaelic signifies a pro-
montory ; in fact Eoslin castle stands on the point of a rocky promontory, around which winds the
river Esk.
(27) Sam (Brit.) signifies a causey, stepping stones. Sorn (Cornish) means a corner. Sorn castle
stands in a corner, formed by the junction of a rivulet with the river A.yr in Ayrshire.
(28) Tve and Tre/ (Brit, and Arm.) signifies a resort, a dwelUng-place, a home-stead, a hamlet, a
town. Tre (Corn.) means a town, a village, a dwelling, a gentleman's seat. It forms a part of the
name of a number of mansions and hamlets in South-Britain, and also in North-Britain.
(29) Uchiltre is the orthography in Pont's maps of Kyle and Wigton, in Bleau's Atlas ; but it
has smce been changed to OchiUree. Uchel (Brit.), Uhel (Com.), mean high, lofty, stately: so
Uche-tre, the high-dwelling or hamlet. The Ochil hills in Perthshire are so named from the
British Uchel.
Ch. U.—The Tribes, their Positions.} OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 57
CHAP. II.
Of the North-Bf'itish Tribes ; their Topographical Positions ; and
singular Antiquities.
IN every treatise, whether didactic or narrative, what has been demonstrated
must be taken for truth. It seems indeed impossible to resist the proofs that
have been offered in accurate detail, for establishing the simple proposition,
which was more than probable in itself, that the Aborigines of North-Britain
were undoubtedly the same Gaelic Clans who, in the most early ages, settled
South-Britain (a). Theories then must bow down to facts, and conjectures
must ever give place to certainty.
At the epoch of Agricola's invasion North-Britain may be viewed as a
mirror that reflects back the condition in which was South-Britain at the
more distant era when Julius Csesar first invaded the shores of our island.
This faithful mirror shows also the state of Gaul when the Roman ambition
enterprized the conquest of the common parent of the British nations. Those
kindred countries were each canonized into many tribes, who were only con-
nected together by the slight ties of a common origin, similar customs, and
the same speech. Caledonia, in its largest extent, from the Tweed and the
(a) See before, Chap. I. Every scholar knows how many conjectures Tacitus has made con-
cerning the origin of the Caledonians who opposed Agricola in arms. Agric. xi. But such a
body of facts as are established in the preceding chapter would explode conjectures of more
solidity if it were allowable to regard speculations in opposition to fact: but he cannot be ad-
mitted to reason against demonstration. If any additional proofs were wanting to support this histo-
rical demonstration, they might be found in an accurate comparison of the stone monuments, which
are the undoubted remains of the earliest inhabitants of South and North Britain, the Cromlechs, the
rochintj stones, the circles of stones, all which aboimd as much in the North as in the South of our
island, with the same form, and therefore appear to have been the work of the same people. Compare
Borlase's Corawall, Book iii. ; Eowland's Mona, § is. ; Munimenta Antiqua, ch. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; Cor-
diner's Antiquities, p. 44 ; lire's Hist. Eugleu, p. 85-6 ; the Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 15th
Vol., 280, 517 ; 4th Vol, 262, 456 ; 9th Vol., 483 ; 16th Vol., 481 ; 5th Vol., 71 ; and Martin's
West. Isles, p. 71. Add to all these the many hiU-forts that formed, when Agricola invaded North
Britain, the defences of the British tribes in the North as well as in the South, which are all of the
same construction and in similar situations.
Vol. I. I
58 A N A C C 0 U N T. [Book I.— The Roman Period-
Eden on the south, to Caithness point on the north, was possessed by one-
and-twenty tribes of Aboriginal Britons, who were populous in proportion to
the greater or less fertility of the districts which they severally occupied :
the tribes on the west coast must have been fewer in numbers than the more
potent clans on the eastern shore. Every tribe enjoyed the ancient privilege
of being each independent of the whole, and who only united under a Pen-
dragon, when danger pressed and necessity demanded the authority of a single
person for the safety of the whole people, according to the Celtic principle of
disunited independence.
1. Let us now cast a curious eye on that speculum, wherein we may see the
topographic position of the Caledonian clans, in their respective series. In it
we may perceive at the south-east boundary of North-Britain the tribe of the
Ottadini, who occupied the whole extent of coast from the southern Tyne to
the Frith of Forth, inhabiting the half of Northumberland, the east part of
Roxbrn-ghshhe, the whole of Berwick artd of East-Lothian, having theh
chief town at Bremenium, which is undoubtedly Roechester, on Heed- water, in
Northumberland {b). The British name of the Ottadini is supposed to be de-
rived from the site of their country, which stretches out from the great river
Tyne northward, along the coast of the German Sea, and the Frith of Forth (c).
A British Poet of the sixth century, Anem'in, a chief of the Ottadini, has
(A) Ptolomy ; Eichavd and his map. The riyers in the country of the Ottadini were the
Tina, the Alauna, and the Tueda, as we learn from Richard. The Tina and Tiieda are omitted
by Ptolomy. The Tine is merely the British Tain, signifying a river of the same import as Avon.
The Lothian Tine and the Tina, in the countr3' of the Venricones, derived theu- kindred names
from the same source. The Alauna of the Ottadini, as well as the Alauna in the country of the
Damnii, drew their descriptive names from the Al-ieen of the British speech, signifying the clear
or hrirjht stream. There are several other waters in North-Britain which are named Alen or
Allan, and which owe thoir appellations to similar qualities. The Tueda of Eichard is merely the
British Tued, the ancient name of this dividing water, vnih. the Latin termination [a] annexed to it.
Lluyd's Archaeol., p. 239.
(c) Camden supposes that they w^e named Oiin-dina from living beyond the Tine. Following up
this idea he endeavours to derive the name from the British Uch-tin, supposing, mistakingly, that
Uch signifies beyond, as the Welsh apply C^c^-Conway for the country of Wales beyond the Conway.
Uch-coed, beyond the wood. The British Ucli properly signifies upper, higher, above, and may be some-
times put for the English beyond when there is the coincidence of acclivity in the situation. But the
name of the Ottadini may be derived from the British language in a more analogous form, thus : Odd,
or Oih, in the British, signifies what tends out from: So Odd-y-tin implies the region tending out from
the Tine, which is, in fact, descriptive of the Ottadinian country, stretching out from the river T3-ne.
along the east coast to the Frith of Forth. From Oddytin the people inhabiting the country would
properly be called Odditini and Odditiniaid, and by the Eomans Othadini or Ottadini, the dd of the
British being pronounced like the th of the Latin and the English.
Ch. II.— The Tribes, their Positions.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 59
left a poem whicli deplores, in animated strains, the defeat of his countrymen
by the intruding Saxons in the battle of Cattraith;
Gwyr a aeth Odoclin, chwertliin wanar.
Heroes travers'd Otodin.ia, a joyous course (rf).
2. The neighbouring tribe of the Gadeni inhabited the interior country on the
west of the Ottadlni, from the Tyne on the south, to the Forth on the north,
comprehending the west part of Northumberland, the small part of Cumber-
land lying on the north of Irthing river, the west part of Roxburgh, the whole
of Selkirk, Tweeddale, much of Mid-Lothian, and nearly all West-Lothian, having
Curia, on the Gore water, for their capital (e). Then- British name is sup-
posed to be derived from the many groves which in those days added both
strength and ornament to their various country.
3. The western clan of the Selgovce inhabited Annandale, Nithsdale, and
Eskdale, in Dumfriesshire ; the east part of Galloway, as far as the river Deva,
(d) Cambrian Register, v. 2, p. 15, 16 ; Welsh Archfeol., v. 1, p. 1.
(e) Richard's text and his map. Ptolomy differs from both in his position of the Gadeni, on the
north of the Damnii, bej'ond the Clyde, in the country of the Attacotti, whom he has annihilated.
The discovery of inscriptions has, however, proved that Ptolomy and his interpreter are com-
pletely -wrong, and that Richard is perfectly right as to the country which he has given to the
Gadeni, near the wall of Severus. At Risingham, where the Roman station of Hahitancnm was
situated, there was found in the river Reed which passes this place, two stone altars, the inscrip-
tion upon one of which bears that it was erected to Mogon, a god of the Gadeni, and to the
deity of our Lord Augustus at Ilabitanmim : the other bore an inscription, " Deo Mouno Cadenorwn
"Inventus Do. V. S." Camden's Brit., p. 1075 — 6; Horsley's Brit. Rom. Northumberland,
No. Isxx. ; Warburton's Vallum Romanum, p. 137 — 8. As Ptolomy displaced the Gadeni
country, so he gave Curia, their metropolis, to the neighbouring tribe of the Ottadini ; but
Richard has properly restored it to the right owners. This Gadeni town probably derived its
significant name from the British Owr, signif3dng a limit, a border, or extremity, a corner ; Cwr
would be latinized Curia by the Romans. In an endeavour to settle Ptolemy's erroneous position
of the Gadeni, a late enquirer has observed, "that Richard, compared with Ptolomy, is no autho-
" rity at all, and that it is sufficient to say that Ptolomy must be right and Richard must be
" wrong ; " yet have we seen that the demonstration of inscriptions supports Richard, and con-
futes Ptolomy. This is by no means the only improvement which Richard has made upon
Ptolomy, in the topography of North-Britain ; he has added several tribes which were wholly
omitted by Ptolomy ; he has corrected many of his erroneous positions ; he has given many addi-
tional intimations of the ancient British names of rivers, of moimtains, and of stations that are
not in Ptolomy ; and in all these additions, corrections, and improvements, Richard is in general
supported by modern discoveries and by undoubted facts. It thus appears that Richard wi-ote from
better documents and more copious information than Ptolomy ; and that Richard's authority and
notices ought to be preferred to the inaccuracy and barrenness of Ptolomy when they differ, as flippant
remark must yield to solid sense.
12
60 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
or Dee, which was their western boundary ; and they had the Solway Frith for
their southern limit (/). The British name of the Selgovce is supposed to be
descriptive of their country, which lay on a dividing water, and which, by the
new settlers, who wei-e introduced during the middle ages, was denominated
the Solway.
4. The remarkable tribe of the Novantes inhabited the middle and west
parts of Galloway, from the Dee on the east to the Irish sea on the west ;
they had the Solway Frith and the Irish sea on the south, and the chain of
hills, the Uxellum-montes of Kichard, which separate Galloway from Carrick,
on the north : and they possessed Lucopihia, on the site of the present Whithorn,
for their principal town, with another town, which was named Rerigonium, on
(/) Ptolemy ; Richard and his map. The Ituna of Ptolomy and Eichard is the Solway,
which received its name from the Ituna, the ancient Eden of the modem maps ; and which loses
itself in the wide expanse of the same frith. This river, as well as several of the same name in
North-Britain, and the Eden in Kent, derive their descriptive names from the British Eddain, which
signifies a gliding stream. In the country of the Selgovae, there are two other rivers on Richard's
map, the Nidus, or Nith, and the Deva, or Dee. The Nid or Nith, like the Nidus or Neth
in Wales, derives its appropriate name from the British Nedd, which is pronounced Ne<A, and
which signifies in the Cambro-British speech, circling or revolving, as the fact evinces. The Dee
derives its significant name from the same British source as the Dee in Aberdeenshire, and the
Dee in Wales ; De, as a substantive, signifies impulse, action, a separation, and was obviously
applied to those rivers from their quality of rapidness : both the Dees, in North-Britain, as moun-
tain streams, are rapid ; the name may, however, be derived from the British Du, which is pro-
nounced like Dee, and which denotes the dark colour of their waters. One of the Selgovae
towns is called by Ptolomy and Richard, Trimontium : it plainly derived its prefix Tre from the
British Tre, a town ; the Trimontium was certainly at Burrenswark-hill in Annandale, on the
BUnmit of which there are the remains of a large British strength and two Roman camps on its
declivity. See chap. iv. Uxellum, another iovnx of the Selgovse, draws its descriptive name from
the British Uchel, which signifies high, lofty ; and which has been merely disguised by a Latin
termination. It was situated at Wardlaw hill, near Oaerlaverock. Caerbantorigum, another town
of the Selgovse, was situated at Drummore, where there are still the remains of a British strength
and a Roman camp on the east side of the Dee below Kirkcudbright ; the name is obviously
British, with a Latin termination : the Oambro-British Caer, signifies a fortress, a fortified place ;
Ban, in the British, means conspicuous ; and Bant, a high place. We thus perceive that the
Selgovae were a British people, since their rivers and towns had their significant names from the
Cambro-British speech. Ptolomy (Bertius's edition) also gives to the Selgovae a fourth town,
which he named Corda, and which is not recognised by Eichard, nor is it in some of the piior
editions of Ptolomy. It is placed by the Egyptian geographer in the high part of their country,
and was probably at Castle Over, in Upper Eskdale, whei'e are the remains of a remarkable British
strength, and also of a Roman station ; and there are several smaller British strengths on the heights
in the surrounding country.
Cb. II.— The Tribes, their Positions.} OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 61
the Rerigonius Sinus, the Loch-Ryan of modern maps {g). They are supposed
to have derived their British name from the nature of their region, which
abounded with streams. The Novantes were remembei'ed by A)ieunn in the
sixth century, when he was describing the warriors who hastened to the de-
fence of their country at Cattraeth :
" Tri 11 wry Novant :
" Three from Novant." (/i)
5. The Damnii inhabited the whole extent of country from the Uxellum monies
of Richard, the ridge of hills between Galloway and Ayrshire on the south,
to the river Earn on the north, comprehending all Strathcluyd, the shires of Ayr,
Renfrew, and StirKng, with a small part of the shires of Dunbarton and Perth.
Their towns were Vanduaria, at Paisley ; Colania, in the south-eastern extremity
of Sti'athclyde ; Coria, at Carstairs, in Eastern Clydesdale ; Alauna, on the river
Allan ; Lindum, near the present Ardoch ; and Victoria, at Dealginross, on the
Ruchil water {i). Such were the five tribes who occupied, during the first
((/) Ptolomy ; Eicliard and his map. The most prominent object among the Novantes, which is
delineated by Richard, though not by Ptolomy, is the Uxellum montes, a ridge of high hills running
from east to west along the northern side of their country. The TTxellum is plainly the British
Uchel, signifying high, lofty. Richard is confirmed by what we find in the vicinity of those moun-
tains in Wigton, a place which, in Font's map of Galloway, is called Ucheltre, the high town : this,
as well as the Uvheltres in Ayr and Linlithgow, are now perverted to Ochiltree. The Ochil hills,
on the northern side of the Forth, are also named from the same British word. The Abravanus of
Ptolomy and Richard is obviously the Aber-avon of the British topography; the Aber signifying
merely a confluence, and Avon, a river.
(/j) Cambrian Reg., v. 2, p. 17 ; Welsh Archaeol., v. 1, p. 4.
(i) Ptolomy ; and Richard with his map. Such were the extensive temtories and the towns of
this powerful tribe at the period of Agricola's invasion, and such they continued till the erection of
the wall of Antonine, which, running from the Forth to the Clyde through the northern part of
their country, comprehended the greatest part of it within the conquered province of Valentia. At
that epoch, as we learn from Richard, the Horestii acquired the towns of Alauna, Lindum, and
Victoria, with the surrounding country. The Vido^nra river, which runs through the country of the
Damnii, as laid down by Richard, plainly represents the Ayr. This stream, that has conferred its
British name on the modem shire, formed, no doubt, the annex to the WAogara of Ptolomy and
Richard : now, Gicddawj, in the British, signifies woody, and dropping the (g) in composition,
wyddawg-ttra would signify the woochj-ar : this epithet was formerly very descriptive of this river ;
and is still so in a gieat degree. The Clota-Jluviiis and Ctuta-yEstuariam are obviously the latinized
names of Cluijd, which, like the sister Cluyd in Wales, derives its name from the British Clyd,
signifying luarm or sheltered. These agreeable qualities apply in a remarkable manner to the
Straths or vales through which those well-known rivers run even in the present times. The A launn
derived its name, as we have seen, from the river Allan, on which it stood; and the Allan obtained
62 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
century, that ample region from the Tyne and the Solway on the south, to
the Forth and the Clyde on the north, varying their limits, no doubt, as am-
bition pressed or weakness gave way during the succession of many ages.
6. The Horestii inhabited the country between the Bodotria, or Forth, on
the South, and the Tavus, or Tay, on the north ; a district which compre-
hended the shires of Clackmanan, Kinross, and Fife, with the east part of
Strathern, and the country lying westward of the Tay, as far as the river
Brand {k). From the natural strength of their country, the Horestii are supposed
to have derived theu- British name.
7. The Venricones possessed the country between the river Tay, on the
south, and the river Carron, on the north ; comprehending Gowrie, Strathmore,
Stormont, and Strathardle, in Perthshire ; the whole of Angus, with the larger
part of Kincardineshire ; having their chief town Orrea, on the north east
margin of the Tavus, or Tay (I).
its name from the British Al-wen, signifpng the clear or white stream. The Lindum, which stood
on the bank of Knaig water, is equally a Celtic name, though it be somewhat corrupted ; it is merely
the Lli/n of the British, signifying a pool, and Din or Dim, a strength. Victoria is plainly a name of
Eoman application during the age of their victories.
{k) Richard and his map. Such was the territory of the Horestii at the epoch of Agricola's
invasion, when they were subdued, and even until the wall of Antonine was built, when they obtained
a considerable accession of country from the Damnian territories, with the towns of Alauna, Lindum,
and Victoria. Richard. The Horestii are wholly omitted by Ptolomy ; but Tacitus, who expressly
mentions them, supports the authority of Richard against Ptolomy. The Bodotria of Ptolomy and
Richard, which bounded the Horestii on the south, was merely the Forth of the British, the Forth of
modem maps, signifying a haven or Estuarij in the Oambro-British tongue.
(J) Ptolomy ; Richard and his map. In the edition of Ptolomy, 1486, this tribe are called
Vernieones ; in Bertius' edition Venicontes; Richard calls them Venricones; this tribe, as well as the
Horestii, obtained afterwards the classical designation of Vecturiones. The name of their capital Or,
which the Romans latinized into Orrea, was descriptive of its situation on the border of their
country and on the margin of the Tay ; Or, in the British, signifying what is outward or bordering,
a limit, a margin. The rivers in the country of the Venricones, as we learn from Richard, were the
Tairus, the Esica, and Tina; Ptolomy has only recollected the Tavus and Tina, and he has mis-
placed both. The name of the Taviis is obviously the British Tan, signifying what spreads. The
Tay, like the Tau of Devonshire, forms a grand expanse in the latter part of its course. Several
rivers in South-Britain are equally named from the British Tau, owing to their qualities of expan-
sion : the Solway was called the Tau by Tacitus. The ^sica of Richard is merely the South Esk
of the recent maps ; and derived its name, as well as other Esks in North and South-Britain, from
the Celtic Ease, and Uisg, signifying water. The Tina, which was placed on the northward of the
^sica by Richard, is probably the North water of the late maps, and no doubt derived its appella-
tion, hke the Tpie in Lothian, and the Tyne in Northumberland, from the British Tain, signifying a
river, the same in import as Avon.
Chap. II. — The Tribes, their Positions.'] Of NOETH-BEITAIN
63
8. The Taixali inhabited the northern part of the Mearns, and the whole of
Aberdeenshire to the Doveran ; a district which included the promontory of
Kinaird's-head, to which the Romans gave the name of Taixalorum Promon-
torium : and they had for their chief town Deuana, on the north side of the
river Dee, six miles above its influx into the sea, being the Normandykes
of the present times. They probably derived their British appellation from the
f airhead-land, A\hich is the most prominent feature of their open and pointed
region (in).
9. The Vacomagi possessed the country on the south side of the Moray Frith
from the Doveran on the east, to the Ness, the Longus of Richard, on the
west, an extent which comprehended the shires of Banfl:', Elgin, Nairn, the
east part of Inverness, with Braemar in Aberdeenshire («). Their towns were
the Ptoroton of Richard, the Alata Castra of Ptolomy, at the mouth of the
(in) Ptolomy ; Eichard and his map ; Cambrian Eeg. 2d vol. p. 18. The remarkable names in the
map of Eichard and the tables of Ptolomy within the country of the Taixali, are the Deva, the station
of the Devana upon the same river, and the Jtiina : Deva or Dee derives its name from the same
British source as the Dee of the Selgovae, and the Wizard Dee in Wales. The Ituna, or Ithaii of the
modern maps, obtained its name from the same British origin, and from the same qualities as the Ituna
of the Selgovae, which has been already noticed.
(h) Ptolomy; Eichard and his map. In the country of the Vacomagi, on the shores of the Moray
Frith, were the Celnii of Ptolomy, or Celnius of Eichard, and the Tuesis of Ptolomy, and the Tuessis
of Eichard. The first was probably the Culen water, at the influx of which into the Moray Frith
there is a town which was named Inver-culen by the Scoto-Irish, and is now abbreviated into
CuUen : the Celnius has generally been applied by modern antiquaries to the river Dovern without
much analogy of language or propriety of local position. The Tuessis was plainly the Spey, the
Espet/e of the British language, signifying what bursts out and ravages, an epithet which remark-
ably applies to that outrageous river : in the Scoto-Irish, indeed, the Tua-easc would signify the
north water. The Varar, that separated the Vacomagi and Cantae, was properly the western
extremity of the Moray Frith, into which falls at this day the river Farar, whence the Estuary
of Eichard drew its Celtic name. On Ptolomy's maps the town of Tuesis is misplaced on the
west instead of the east side of the river Spey, where it is accurately placed by Eichard, who
is confli-med by the recent discovery of a Eoman station on the east bank of the Spey a little below
the Kirk of Bellie. The Alata Castra of Ptolomy is also much misplaced, being removed a gi-eat way
from the coast ; but Eichard has properly placed his Ptoroton on the promontorj', which is now called
Buj-ghead, on the Moray Frith, and which has been established as its real site. Baiiatia is also
misplaced in Ptolomy's maps a great distance southward of the Tamea, while Eichard has more
correctly placed it on the east side of the Ness, where there have been discovered the remains of a
Eoman post at a place named Bona, Bana, and Boaess. The British Bon-nes, which is descriptive of
its situation, at ihafoot or lower end of Looh-Nes, was no doubt by the Eomans latinized into Bonaesia,
that formed the Banatia of Ptolomy and Eichard. The site of Tamea, which foi-med a stage in the
tenth Iter, of Eichard, from Ptoroton southward, ";je»- mediam insulce," is supposed to have been on
the river Dee in Braemar.
U AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Varar, where the present Burghead runs out into the Frith ; the Tuessis, on the
east bank of the Spey ; with Tamea and Banatia in the interior country.
10. The Albani, who were subsequently called Damnii-Albani, from their
having been subjected to the Damnii, inhabited the interior districts between
the lower ridge of the Grampians, which skirt the southern side of the loch
and river Tay on the south, and the chain of mountains that forms the southern
limit of Inverness-sliire on the north, comprehending Braidalban, Athol, a
small part of Lochaber, with Appin and Glenorchy in Upper-Lorn ; a
country, as Richard intimates, surrounded with mountains and replenished
with lakes (o). The British word, Alhan, means greatest, utmost, or superior
height (p) ; as Gwyr Alhanmi consequently signifies the men of the upper
mountains : the Welsh denominate Scotland by the appropriate word Alhan
even to the present times.
11. The Attacotti inhabited the whole countiy from Loch-Fine, the Le-
lanonius Sinus of Richard, on the west, to the eastward of the river Leven and
Loch-Lomond, comprehending the whole of Cowal in Argyleshire, and the
greater part of Dunbartonshire (q). They are supposed to have been called in
the British speech the Eithacoeti, or the men dweUing along the extremity of
the wood.
12. The proper Caledonii inhabited the whole of the interior country from
the ridge of mountains which separates Inverness and Perth on the south, to
(o) Riohard and his map. This tribe is wholl}- omitted by Ptolomy ; but Richard has, as in many
Other instances, supplied this defect ; and Eichard has described the prominent features of theii-
secluded country with such correctness as to leave no doubt of the genuine source of his information.
The significant name of their mountainous country, Alhan, from which they got the appellation of
Albani, was afterwards extended to the whole of the middle country between the Forth and the Varar,
and has been presei-ved through successive ages to the present times. The Scoto-Irish people gave to
the southern part of the Albani country the appellation of Braid-Alhan, signifying the vjiper part of
Alban; and a ridge of mountains in the northern part was by the same people named Drum-Alhan,
signif3nng the ridge of Alhan.
(p) In fact, this region contains some of the highest mountains in Britain. Ben-Nevis, on its
northern limit, is 4370 [4406] feet above the level of the sea ; Ben-Lawers, in the southern part, is
4015 [.3984] above the same level ; and there are several others which are very little inferior in height.
(?) '^^^ Lelamonius of Ptolomy : the same water is called Lajlamnonius Sinus in Bertius's
edition of Ptolomy. Richard and his map. Ptolomy has wholly omitted the Attacotti ; and his
interpreters have erroneously placed the Gadeni in their country. Eichard has, however, restored
this tribe, who were once formidable, to their real territories, which included, as he iufonns us,
the Lincaledur Lacus. The much admired Loch-Lomond of the present age is the Lincaledur
Lacus of Eichard, which appellation was plainly derived from the Lyn-calcd-dwr of the British
speech.
Ch. 11.— The Tribes, their Positions.^ Of NORTH-BEIT A IN.
65
the range of hills that forms the forest of Balnagowan, in Koss, on the north ;
comprehending all the middle parts of Inverness and of Ross (r). This terri-
tory formed a considerable part of the extensive forest, which in early ages
spread over the interior and western parts of the country, on the northern side
of the Forth and Clyde, and to which the British colonists gave the descriptive
appellation of Celyddon ; signifying literally the coverts, and generally denoting
a ivoody region (s). The large tribe, who thus inhabited a great portion of the
forest Celyddon, were consequently called Celyddoni, and Celyddoniaid, the
people of the coverts. This descriptive term, Celyddon, was also applied, by
the British people, to an extensive forest which, in the same early ages, covered
a large tract of country on the south of the Humber (t). The northern forest
of Celyddon is frequently mentioned by the Caledonian Merddin, a native poet
of the sixth century (if). The name of Celyddon also occurs frequently in
ancient Welsh manuscripts, having in some instances the prefix coed, which
signifies merely a wood (x). From tlie great extent of country to which the
descriptive term Celyddon was applied, this name, in its Romanized form of
Ccdedonia, was, in after times, extended to the whole peninsula on the northern
side of the Forth and Clyde.
13. The Cantce inhabited the east of Ross-shire, from the Estuary of Varar
on the south, to the Abona, or . Dornoch Frith on the north ; having Loxa,
or Cromarty Firth, which mdented their country, in the centre, and a ridge of
(r) Ptolomy ; Eicliavd, and liis map. Ptolomy eiToneously carries the territories of the Caledonii,
throughout the country, southward to the Lelanonius Sinus, or Loch Fine. This error arose frona
his omitting the Albani, who inhabited the intermediate district between the Caledonii and the
Lelanonius Sinus.
(.<) The British people applied the descriptive terms Celt, Cehjddon, Givyddyl, and Ysgoed, to
wooded and wild regions ; and to the open and plain countries they gave the characteristic temis Gal,
Peithw. Gwent. Owen. Thus, they distinguished the countiy on the northern side of the Forth and
Clyde, by two characteristic appellations : the interior and western part, which was clothed with
woods, they termed Cehjddon, and the inhabitants Celyddoni; and to the open country, along the
east coast, they apphed the term Peithw ; and the inhabitants were called Peilhi. These general
appellations of Celyddoni and Peithi, were, by the Eomans, latinized Caledonii and Picti. Cal, Cel,
and Coil, are primitive words, which, in all the dialects of the Celtic, signify woods ; as Calon, in the
Greek, also signifies woods : hence, Calydon, a town and kingdom of Etolia, which derived theu-
descriptive names from the forest of Calydon. Gebelin's Monde Prim. tom. is. p. 108.
{t) Eichard, and his map. He calls it by the latinized name of Caledonia Sylva, the same in import
as the Caledonian forest in the north. In p. 26, speaking of the Coitani, he says, " Coitani, in tractu
" Sylvis obsito, qui ut aliw Brittonnum Sylvce Caledonia fuit appellata."
{it) Welch Archaiology, v. 1. p. 150, 152, 153. (x) Cambrian Eegister, v. 2. p. 19.
Vol. I. K
gg AnAOCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
hills, the Uxellwn monies, on the west (y). Then- couiitry ran out eastward
into the narrow point, or Pen Uxellum of Richard, the Tarbet-ness of Ainslie.
The country of the Cantce plainly derived its significant name from the British
Cdint, which, as it means an open country, has at all times been a very appro-
priate epithet for the eastern part of Ross, compared with the mountainous
interior and the western districts {iv).
14. The south-eastern coast of Sutherland was inhabited by the Logl, whose
country extended from the Abona or Dornoch Frith on the south-west, to
the river Ila on the east (.r). This is obviously the Helmsdale river of the
Scandinavian intruders, which the Celtic inhabitants have always called Avon-
Uile, or Avon-High, the floody water ; an apjjellation which is strongly cha-
racteristic of this High and of the other Has in North-Britain. The Logi,
probably drew their name from the British word Lijgi, which was naturally
applied to a people living on the shore (i/).
15. The Carnabii inhabited the south, the east, and north-east of Caithness,
from the Ila river ; comprehending the three great promontories of Viruhium,
or Noss-Head, of Virvedrum, or Duncansby-Head, and of Tarvedrum, or the
(r) Ptolemy ; Eichaid, with his map. The Loxa of Ptolomy and Eichard is from its position,
plainly the Cromarty Frith of the modern maps : and it obviously derived its name of Loxa, from the
British Llwch, with a foreign termination, signifying an inlet of the sea, or collection of watei'.
Several aims of the sea on the west coast of North-Britain are called Lochs to this day, probably
from the Scoto-Irish Loch, signifying the same as the Cambro-British IJwch. The country of the
Cantse was divided from that of the Caledonii by a ridge of mountains which is called, in Richard's
map, Uxellum monies, and which, like the Tlxellum monies, in the land of the Novantes, derived
their name, as we have seen, from the British Uchel, high or lofty. This ridge, of which Ben Wijvis
is the prominent summit, gradually declines towards the north-east and terminates in a promontorj',
which is called Pen Uxellum ; and which is the Tarbet-ness of modern maps. The prefix Pen is
merely the British word that signifies a head, or end, or promontory. Ptolomy has omitted to notice
these remarkable objects, the Uxellum viontes, and the Pen Uxellum 2'>romontorium , in the country of
the Cantse. Upon the coast of the Cantse, on the south of the Loxa, or Cromarty Frith, Eichard has
placed the Arte Jinium Tnqjerii llomani.
(w) Ptolomy ; Eichard, with his map. The original blunder of Ptolomj-, in the position of
North-Britain, has introduced a correspondent embarrassment into the map of Eichard, particularly on
the north of the Varar. This estuary is plainly the western extremity of the Murray Frith. Eichard's
Al>ona must be the Frith of Dornoch, which runs far into the country between Eoss and Sutherland ;
and which receives into its ample channel Avon-Oigeal, Avon-Shin, Avon-CaiTon, and other ivnUrs ;
the name of Abona is obviously formed from the British appellative Avon, a river, with a foreign
tennination.
(.c) Ptolomy ; Eichard, with his map.
(//) ^Vhitaker'3 Manchester, 8vo Edit. v. 2. p. 204.
Ch. U.~The Tribes, their Positions.'] OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 67
Orcas promontorium, the Dunnet-Head of the present times. Tlie Carnahii
derived their appropriate appellation, like the kindred Carnabii of Cornwall,
from their residence on remarkable promontories.
16. The small tribe of the Catini inhabited the north-west corner of Caith-
ness, and the eastern half of Strath-Naver, in Sutherlandshire ; having the river
Naver, the iVa?;aW-fluvius of Ptolomy, the NahcBus-^vcv'ms of Richard, for their
western boundary (2) : they probably derived their appellation from the British
name of the weapon the Cat, or Catai, wherewith they fought ; whence, by
an easy variation, they may have been called in an age when every word had
its meaning, the Catini, or Club-men (a). The Gaelic people of Caithness and
Sutherland are ambitious even at this day of deriving their distant origin from
those Catini, or Catai, of British times.
17. The MertcB occupied the interior of Sutherland (6) ; and probably derived
their name from the British Meredio or Merydd, signifying flat or sluggish ;
and conveying, perhaps, some analogous quality of the people (c).
18. The Camonacce inhabited the north and west coast of Sutherland, and
a small part of the western shore of Ross, from the Naver river, on the east,
round to the VoIscLS-haj, on the south-west. In this district a river called
Straha falls into the sea on the west of the river Naver ; and the head-land,
at the turn, is named Ehudium promontorium (d). The Carnonacfe probably
derived an appropriate name from the British Cerneinog ; signifying the country
of points.
{:) Ptolomy ; Kicliard and liis map. This river is called A'arart-fluvius in the edition of
Ptolomy, 148G, Naucei-S.VLxms, in Bertius's edition ; Eichard calls it N'abceus-Q.nvins : in Ptolomy's
maps the Catini are erroneously placed on the tvest, in place of the east, of the Naver river.
Ptolomy calls this tribe Carini: they are called Catini by Eichard, and his name maybe recog-
nized in the appellation of their descendants, the Catti, who inhabited this country in after ages,
and from whom the extremity of North-Britain got the name of Catti-ness, the Caithness of the
present times.
(o) Cambrian Eeg., vol. 2, p. 20.
(b) Ptolomy ; Eichard and his map. (c) Owen's Diet.
{(I) Ptolomy ; Eichard and his map. The Navari, or A'fn'<T'/-fluvius of Ptolomy, the Nabmus-
fluvius of Eichard, were certainly Naver river, which gives a name to the country of Strath-iVaco' ;
and the Straba-?L\m\iA of Eichard was probably the Strath-more river, which runs through Loch
Hope, and falls into Loch Eribol, an inlet of the sea. The Ebudium promontorium of Eichard is
no doubt the Cape Wrath of Ainslie, as this map-maker indeed supposes. The Volsas Sinus of
Richard is probably the great arm of the sea on the west coast of Eoss, which is denominated by
Ainslie Loch Braon or Broom. Li Ptolomy's maps the Carnonacae are misplaced on the south, in place
■of the north of Volsas Sinus.
K2
68 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
19. The west coast of Ross, from Volscts- sinus, on the north, to the lUjs, on
the south, was inhabited by the Creones (e), who derived their British name
from their Jierceness ; Crewon, Creuomoys, signifying tlie men of blood.
20. The Cerones inhabited the whole west coast of Inverness, and the coun-
tries of Ai-dnamurchan, Morven, Sunart, and Ardgowar, in Argyleshire ;
having the Itys of Richard, which is now called Loch Duich, on the north, and
the Lonrjus, or the Linne-Loch, on the south (/).
21. The Epidii inhabited the south-west of Argyleshire, from Linne-Loch
on the north, to the Frith of Clyde and the L'lsh Sea, on the south ; including
Ceantyr, the point whereof was called the Epidian promontory, which is now the
Mull of Ceantyr (c/) ; and were bounded on the east by the country of- the Al-
bani, and the Lelcmonius Sinus, or the Loch-Fine of the present day. The
Epidii, no doubt, derived their descriptive appellation from the British Ebyd,
a peninsula ; as they inhabited chiefly the remarkable neck of land which has
since been called by the Scoto-Irish colonists Ceantire (h).
Such, then, were the one-and-twenty tribes of Aboriginal Britons who pos-
sessed, during the first century, the whole range of North- Britain, extending
from south to north two hundred and sixty statute miles, and from east to
west, one hundred and fifty. A general view of North-Britain would represent
the whole, at that epoch, as consisting either of mountains or valleys, M'hich
were covered with woods, and embarrassed with bogs ; or of surrounding
(e) Ptolomy ; Eicliard and his map. In Ptoloiu}''s maps the Creones are also misplaced on the
soiit/i, in place of the north of Itys-fluvius. The Itys applies to the long inlet of the sea, named Loch-
Duich, between Boss and Inverness, into which several riverets empty their kindred waters.
(/) Eichard and his map. The Lonrjus-Fhiviint of Eichard is called by Ptolomy \07701, which
corresponds nearly with the Lochy-Loch and Lochy river of the present day. This Loch and
river, together with Loch Linne, form the western part of that remarkable chain of Lochs and
rivers which stretch from the west sea, through the middle of the island, to the head of the Moray-
Frith at Inverness ; and which formed plainly the Longns of Eichard, and is the remarkable track of
the Caledonian Canal.
(</) Ptolomy ; Eichard and his map.
(A) Cambrian Beg., vol. 2, p. 21. The topography of North-Britain in that age, as it is re-
presented by Ptolomy and Eichard, affords a new proof of the proposition with regard to the
sameness of the people which is demonstrated in the first Chapter. The appellations of the
several tribes, the names of their towns, of the headlands and mountains, of estuaries, and of
rivers, are all significant in the Cambro-British language ; and are merely disguised by Grfiek
forms and Latin terminations. But of Scandinavian names there appears not either in Ptolomy *3
geography or in Eichard's map the smallest trace for Gothic zeal to mistake, or for theoretic sub-
tilty to misrepresent. For the typographic position of all those tribes, witli their rivers and towns, see
the Eoman-British map prefixed to this work.
Chap. II.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 69
coasts, which were indented with numerous bays, and ampUfied by successive
promontories (i.)
The Caledonian tribes, at the arrival of Agricola among them, seem to have
resembled their kindred Britons of South-Britain, as they were described by
Julius Caesar in a prior age. From his account they all appear to have been
little raised, in their social connections, above the natural state of rude savages,
who live on the milk of their flocks, or the supplies of their sport. In this
condition they probably remained for ages. The prejudice of Dio represents
them indeed as a people who reared their children in common, as they had
wives in common ; and who lived in huts, rather than inhabited houses ; that
they were almost naked from choice ; and were remarkable for bearing fatigue,
cold, and famme: they were said to be addicted, like the heroes of more
ancient times, to robbery, which was analogous to their warfare. Their infantiy
were equally famous for their speed in attack, and for their firmness in the
field ; being armed, like their Gaelic posterity in more recent times, with slight
shields, short spears, and handy daggers : they, however, sometimes fought in
cars that were drawn by horses, which were said to be small, swift, and spirited.
As the Caledonian tribes appear thus to have been little advanced beyond the
first stage of society, so they seem to have had scarcely any 23olitical union :
then' governments are said by Dio, in the same strain of doubtful intimation, to
have been democratic ; yet they were, perhaps, like the American tribes,
governed under the aristocratic sway of the old men, rather than the coercion
of legal authority, which all were bound to obey. Herodian concurs with
Dio in his disadvantageous representation of the civilization, manners, and
the arts of social life among the Caledonian clans, even during the recent
period of the third century. And yet the stone monuments of vast labour
which still remain ; the hill-forts of the ingenious construction of many
hands, that could not even now be taken by storm ; and the gallant stand
which they systematically opposed to the disciplined valour of the Roman
armies ; clearly show the Caledonian people in a better light of civilization and
poUty than the classic authors uniformly represent.
The Aborigmes of North-Britain, like other rude people in the most early
stages of society, were probably less governed by law than by religion. In
all the colonies of the Celts in Europe, Druidism was the mode of their reli-
gious faith, which may have been corrupted by innovation, and may have ap-
O") See the Mappa Antiqua; and Eoy's MiUt. Aotiq., p. ')7, for his short description of the face
of the country.
70 An ACCOUNT [Bookl.—T/ie n„ma)i Period.
peared under difierent aspects in various climes. It was the intelligent opinion
of Diogenes Laertius that the tenets of the Druids might be comprehended
under four heads: (1.) To worship God; (2.) To abstain from evil; (3.) To
exert courage ; (4.) And to believe in the immortality of the soul, for enforcing
all those virtues. "We may easily suppose from the less favourable representa-
tion of subsequent writers, that the tenets of Druidism degenerated into mere
grossness, and that the practice of Druidism became degraded by practices of
less refinement.
The Celtic people undoubtedly brought their Druids and Druidism with
them from the east into Europe ; and the Gauls conveyed both into Britain.
The Druids probably derived their appropriate name from the Celtic Derwyz,
the Dar-gwyz of the British speech, which signifies one who has knowledge ;
a theologian, a Druid (h). As the Druids had undoubtedly an appropriate vene-
ration for the oak, they imagined there was a supernatural virtue in the wood,
in the leaves, in the fruit, and above all in the misseltoe. Among the priests
of Druidism, there appear to have been three orders : the Druids, the Vates,
and the Bards, who severally performed very different functions : the Bards
sung in heroic verse the brave actions of eminent men ; the Vates studied
continually, and explained nature, the productions of nature and the laws ;
and the Druids, who were of a higher order, and were disciplined in the
forms of an established order, directed the education of youth, officiated in the
affairs of religion, and presided in the administration of justice. In considera-
tion of those several duties, which in every age and country are of great im-
portance, the Druids were exempted from serving in war, from the paying of
taxes, and from contributing to the burdens of the state.
Whatever may have been the speculative tenets of Druidism, the Druids
taught the duties of moral virtue, and enforced the precepts of natural religion.
They inculcated a strong desire of liberty, with an aixlent love of their country,
which strikingly appeared in the struggle for both which was made against
the Roman legions by the Gauls, by the Britons, and, above all, by the
Caledonians. It was a peculiar principle of the Druids which enjoined that
no temple or covered building should be erected for public worship : for, the
sun being the great medium, rather than the object of their adoration, to have
shut out that luminary during their religious services would have been Incon-
sistent with their objects. Neither did the Druids ever erect any Image of the
{k) See Owen's Diet, in Vo. Dcni-yz. This word he ingeniously traces back to Bar, an oak,
a male oak. From the oalc, as it was held in religious veneration, it had this name, which implies
tlie tree of presence.
Cli. n.—T/ie Tribes, their A ntiquities.'] NOETH-BRITAIN. 71
Deity : nor did they communicate with the Greeks or Komans in the mul-
tipUcity of their local gods, or in the grossness of their general idolatry.
In religious worship, the individual may perform his devotions wlien and
where he finds it most convenient ; but the worship of societies requires a
determinate time and place. In the first ages there was an agreement in
religion, both in faith and in practice, among the nations of the earth, in the
same manner as there was a similarity in their language, from a common origin.
The earliest temples were uncovered. The places of the Druid worship con-
tinued uncovered till the dark epoch of Druid dissolution.
The most eai'ly places of worship, as might naturally be expected, ^^■ere
gi'oves {I) : the oak woods were the first places of the Druid devotion. Long
after the Caledonian forests had fallen before the waste of design and the de-
struction of accident, the sacred tree still remained within the Caledonian
regions the inviolable object of vulgar veneration {m).
Oratories existed among the earliest j)eople {n). These ancient places of
worship consisted of plots of gi'ound, which, as they were enclosed, and were
open above, were appropriated to the public worship of families and villages.
One of the earliest of those Oratories was distinguished by a Pillar of Stone,
which was set up under an oak (o). The Druid sacrifices were only performed
at the altar, which stood within the circles, and under an oak ; and when no
sacrifices were to be made, we may easily suppose that the people assembled in
those inclosures, either for the acquirement of knowledge or the performance
of devotion. For those impoi'tant ends, and for the instruction of youth, were
groves appropriated by the Druids and altars erected. Many of those altars
still remain in North-Britain. And such a superstitious regard is even now paid
to those sacred stones by the country people, that though some of those stones
(I) Gen. 12.7.
(//() See Ure's Euthergleu, p. 8.5 ; and Stat. Acco. V. xv. p. 280 : the sequestrated spot on
wliieh stands tlie large Cromlech, called the Auld Wives-lift, appears to have been surrounded by a
grove of oaks ; as several of the stumps of those trees are still visible. In the Isle of Skye, there
is a consecrated ivell, which is called Loch Seaiit Well, and which is celebrated for many virtues ;
and near it there is a small coppice or ckimp of wood, that is to this day held saci-ed by the
surrounding inhabitants, who are careful not to cut a branch of it, from the belief that some mis-
fortune would be the result of the act. Martin's West. Isles, p. 140-1. From the sacred groves
of the Druids, arose the term Cel, or Cil, which, in the Celtic language, originally signified a
covert, a recess, a retreat, such as were the sacred groves of the Druids. On the introduction of
Christianity, the term Cil was apphed to the cells and chapels of the first Christian missionaries
and saints, and secondarily, to the consecrated cemeteries which were usually attached to them.
(ji) Mede, 65. (<-) Joshua, 24, 2G.
72 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
of worship stand in the middle of com fields, ^evf persons have ventured to
remove the objects, which were once univex'sally venerated (/). ISear the vil-
lage of Kilbarchan, on an elevated plain, stands a huge stone, called Clochodrick,
which is merely a corruption of Clochadruid ; signifying, in the Celtic language,
the Druid's stone. At some distance around it, there are a few large grey
stones ; but whether they once formed a Druid inclosure cannot now be ascer-
tained (g). There is scarcely a district in North-Britain where a Clochadruid
may not be found whence an illiterate people were taught to offer their usual
adorations.
The number and variety of the Druid remains in North-Britain are almost
endless. The principal seat of Druidism seems to have been the recesses of
Perthshire, near the Grampian range.. Accurate inquuy might perhaps discover
that the circles and ovals of erect stones, with stone pUlars and small cairns
within them, are the Oratories of ancient times ; and that the circles of stones,
having an altar or a cromlech within the area or on the outside of them,
have been used for the different purposes of making saciifices. Those inclo-
sures are sometimes formed of a single cu-cle, and often of double, and treble,
concentric circles of upright stones. In general only one or two of those
inclosures are seen in one place : But in many districts of North-Britain there
are found three, four, and even more, in the same vicinity ; and sometimes
there may be perceived Druid cairns, which are closely connected with them,
both in neighbourhood and in use (h).
(/) Stat. Account of Kirkmictael, v. 15, p. 520.
{(/) Stat. Acco. V. 15, p. 487. In Trescaw, one of tlie Scilly Isles, there is a similar stone of
an oval form, about nineteen feet long, and shelving at the top ; round which there was a row of
rude unequal stones, and a sort of trench. Borlase, p. 200. pi xii. ; King's Munimenta Antiq.
p. 230. pi. X.
(/() Within the parish of Kiikmichael, in Perthshire, there is a vast body of Druid remains.
Upon an extensive and elevated moor, on the east side of Strath-Ai-dle, there is a large Cairn of
stones, ninety yards in circumference, and about twent}'-five feet high. From the east side of this
Cairn, two parallel rows of stones extend to the southward, in a straight line, upwards of one hun-
dred yards, having a small Cairn at the extremity of each : these rows form an avenue thirty-two
feet broad, leading to the great Cairn. Around this large Caii-n there is a number of smaller Cairns,
ficatteied at different distances, generally in groups of eight or ten together. They are all co-
vered more or less with moss or heath. About a furlong west from the great Cairn there are
the remains of two concentric circles of upright stones ; the outer circle is about fifty-feet, and the
inner thirty-two feet in diameter. There are also in the neighbourhood of the great Caii'n, at dif-
ferent distances, the remains of six or more single circles of standing stones, from thirty-two to
thirty-six feet in diameter. About a mile north-east from this great Cairn, on a flat-topped emi-
Ch.U.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.^ OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 73
There ajDpear, from a thousand remains both in South and North Britain,
to have been two kinds of Druid altars. The first sort consists of flat stones,
which are either incumbent or upright (i) ; the second sort is the Cromlechs,
nence, stands an immense rocking stone. In the vicinity of this stone there are a number of other
Dniidical remains. About sixty yards north of it, on a small eminence, there are two concentric
circles of stone, similar to those already described ; and adjoining to them, on the east side, there
is a single circle of stones. Beyond these, at the distance of thirty-seven yards, on another small
eminence, there is another pair of concentric circles of stones, with a single circle adjoining them on
the east side. From these, at the distance of forty-five yards, there is yet another pair of concen-
tric circles of stones, with a single circle, adjoining them on the east side. North-east from these
concentric circles, about ninety yards, there is a single circle of stones ; and beside it, on the west,
two rectangular enclosures of thirty-seven feet by twelve, also a Cairn twenty-three or twenty-four
yards in circumference and about twelve feet high in the centre. There are several Cairns scattered
about in the neighbourhood. About one hundred and twenty yards west from the rocking stone
there is a pair of concentric circles of stones, having beside them a small single circle seven feet in
diameter. All these pairs of concentric circles are of the same dimensions, the inner one being
about thirty-two feet, and the outer about forty-five feet in diameter ; and all of them have an
entrance four or five feet wide on the south side. The single circles are, in general, from thirty-
two to thu'ty-six feet in diameter. There are several cairns and circles of stones similar to those
above described, in other parts of the same parish, particularly between Strath-Ardle and Glen-derby.
There are also several tall upright stones called by the Gaelic inhabitants Crom-leaca or C/ach-
sleachda, the stones of worship. Some of these are five and six feet above gromid, and must be
sunk a considerable space under the surface, from their remaining so long in the same upright position.
Stat. Acco., V. XV. p. .516—20.
(?) The altar stones are generally connected with Druid circles ; and have sometimes artificial ca-
vities in them. In Kincardineshire, at Achen-corthie, which signifies thejield of the circles, there are
two concentric circles ; the exterior one is composed of fifteen standing stones, three yards high
above ground, and seven or eight paces distant from one another, the diameter being twenty-four
paces : the interior circle is three paces from the other, and the stones of it are three feet high above
the ground. On the south, ther6 was a large broad stone lying flat ; and on the east of the circle, at
the distance of twenty-six paces, there is another large broad stone, which was fast in the ground,
having a cavity that may contain a Scots gallon. Near these two concentric circles, there are
other three concentric circles, the stones of the largest being about three yards, and those of the
two smaller circles about three feet above the ground. On the top of one of the stones of the largest
circle, on the east side, there is a hollow about three inches deep, along the bottom of which there
is a channel cut one inch deep and two inches broad, which leads some way down the side of the
stone for the purpose of caiTying off the liquid that had been poured in at the top ; in another
stone, within the same circle and upon the same side there is also a cavity with a channel for
the purpose of convejdng down the side of it the liquid that may have been poured into it. Ar-
chaeol. V. i., p. 315. There are several artificial cavities in the top of an altar stone, at a Druid
circle, in Caputh parish, Perthshire. Stat. Acco., V. ix., p. 504. There are flat altar stones at
many other Dniid circles in North-Britain ; such as at Coupar Grange in Perthshire, Kilteam
in I?o33-shire, and other places. View of the Agriculture of Perthshire, p. 571 ; Stat. Acco.
Vol. I. L
74 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Soman Period.
consistino- of a large broad stone, which is supported by several stories that are
usually placed upon their respective edges. Of the fiz'st kind there are nume-
rous examples in every district of North-Britain, as we have seen. The Crom-
lechs are equally numerous, and still more remarkable (k). And both these
sorts of altai's are generally connected with Druid circles or other Druid works,
though the Cromlechs sometimes appear alone in some sequestered place,
which may have been sheltered by the sacred grove while the Caledonian
forest yet covered the Caledonian regions (0-
V. i., p. 292. Many of the Druid circles in England and Wales have similar altar stones
and upright stones, with artificial cavities in them. Archaeol., V. ii., p. 207. Borlase's Cornwall,
p. 117—241, &c.
(Ic) Many Cromlechs are connected with Druid circles, and several appear without circles. In
the parish of Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire, there is a number of Dniidical circles : the most entire
of these is on the hiU of Park-house, and has a large Cromlech, the top stone of which is fourteen feet
long, contains about two hundred and fifty solid feet, and rests upon other two large stones placed
on their edges. Cordiner's Antiquities, p. 44 ; Stat. Acoo., V. 16, p. 81. In the enclosures of
Kipp's-house, in Linhthgowshire, there is a Druidical cu'cle, having one or two erect stones in
the centre, and a large Cromlech near it. Cough's Camden, V. iii., p. 318. In the middle of
one of the Druidical circles in the isle of Arran there is a Cromlech, consisting of a large broad
stone, which is supported by three lesser ones. Martin's Western Islands, p. 220. In the parish
of Castleton, in Eosburghshire, there is a Cromlech at the south end of a large oblong Cairn,
near the north end of which there is a Druid circle. Stat. Acco., V. xvi., p. 85. On a high
ground, near a mile north from the church of Baldernock, in Stirlingshire, there is a circular plain
or area, of about a hundred paces diameter, and surrounded by an ascent of a few yards in height,
in the form of an amphitheatre : within this area or enclosure there is a remarkable Cromlech,
which is called the auld wives' lift : and this area appears, from the remains, to have once been
covered by a grove of oaks. Stat. Acco., V. 15, p. 280 ; Ure's Eutherglen, p. 85. There are
many such Druid works, with similar Cromlechs, in England and Wales. Cough's Camden,
V. i., p. 285—294. PI. xv.— lb. V. iii., p. 174—90 ; Antiq. Eepert, V. vi., p. 239 ; Stukeley's
Abury; Borlase's Cornw. 119; Pennant's Tour in Wales, V. ii., p. 203; King's Muniment.
Antiq. V. i. p, 210 — 260. And there are also in England, Wales and Cornwall, a number
of Cromlechs at which there do not at present appear any Druid circles. Such as the famous
Cromlech, called Kitfs Cottij-house, in Kent. Munimenta Antiq. V. i. p. 215. PI. viii. and is.
That at Plas-Newydd, in Anglesey, and several others in the same island. Pennant's Tour in
Wales, v. ii. p. 237 ; Cough's Camden, V. ii., p. 569 : Eowland's Mona Antiqua, p. 92 — 3 ;
King's Munimenta Antiq. "V. i., p. 231—237. PI. x. and si. See King's Munimenta, from 210 to
263 ; and Borlase's Cornwall, p. 223 to 233, for a number of other Cromlechs in different parts of
South-Britain.
(/) The tei-m Cromlech is brought by Eowland, from Babel, in the form of Cseraem-lech, or Caerem-
luach, a devoted stone or altar. Mon. Antiq. p. 47, which is quoted by the learned author of
the Munimenta Antiq. "V. i., p. 230—58—9. This elaborate antiquary also quotes an Etymon of
the Cromlech, which is supposed to have been given by a Scots highlander, in the Gent. Mag.
Cli. II.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 75
The Cairns which the superstition of the earliest ages dedicated to Druid
rites must be carefully distinguished from the sepulchral Cairns that are every-
where found in North-Britain (m). The Druid Cairns may be easily ascer-
tained by attending to the following circumstances : The Druid Cairns are
always connected, either by vicinity or use, with some Druid circle or Druid
work, of which we have seen several examples. The Druid Cairns are gene-
rally fenced round the bottom by a circle of stones. These Cairns had always
on their summits a large flat stone on which the Druid fires were lighted :
and, lastly, these monuments may be distinguished by the avenue of upright
stones which conducted the devotees to the base of so many Druid Cairns («).
1792, p. 695 ; and which consists of Crom, bent or crooked, and lech, that is supposed by the
highlander to be a con-uption of Clach, a stone : thus, Cromlech was conjectui'ed to be the stone
which was to be bowed towards, or the stone of adoration. Borlase, p. 225, says the general
name for this stone among the learned is Cromlech or crooked stone ; the upper stone being
generally of a convex or swelling surface, and resting in a crooked position : Borlase adds in a
note, that Crom, in the Cornish, signifies crooked, and Crijmimj, bending, bowing ; whence To-
land and others have conjectured that these singular erections were called Cromlech, from the
reverence which persons, bowing in the act of adoration, paid to them. None of these, however,
have given the true and proper interpretation of the term Cromlech. Crom., both in the British
and Irish, undoubtedly signifies bent, inclined ; and Cromadh, bending, inchning ; and Llech (Brit.)
and Leac (Ir.) mean a flat stone, as we learn from Davies and O'Brien : whence, Crom-lech
literally signifies the inclined flat stone ; and certainly is, like most other Celtic names, descriptive of
the thing to which it is applied ; the top stone of all the Cromlechs being a flat stone that had
been designedly placed in an inclined position. The conjecture of the Soots highlander, of Toland,
and of others, as above mentioned, of the Cromlech being the stone of adoration does not agree with
the fact, as the Cromlechs were not constructed for objects of adoration, but for the analogous
purpose of sacrificing altars. It must, however, be observed, that Crom is not the proper epithet,
either in the British or in the Irish, for inclining or sloping unless the stone was also concave :
Crom literally signifies, in both those languages, bending, bowed, bent, concave ; and might be ap-
plied to the attitude of the body in bowing. For drawings of Cromlechs, see Pennant's Tour in
Wales, V. ii, p. 246 ; King's Munimenta Antiqua, PI. viii. ix. x. and si., p. 222 ; Borlase's Cornwall, p.
223, PI. xxi. ; Ure's Butherglen, p. 85.
(«i) Cairn is an original word in the British and Iiish dialects of the Celtic ; and signifies literally
a heap, a prominence.
(n) In Kirkmichael parish, in Perthshire, the distinguished site of Druid remains in North-
Britain, there are a number of Druid Cairns in the vicinity of Druidical circles, and other remains,
as we have seen. In Blair of Athol parish there is a large Cairn, sixty paces in circumference,
which stands near a Druid circle, and which has several flat stones on its lofty summit. Stat.
Acco. V. ii., p. 474. In the parish of Leochel, in Aberdeenshire, there are several large Caims,
some of which are fended round with large stones ; and near these Cairns, are several double and
triple concentric circles. lb. V. vi., p. 221. In the parish of East Kilbride, in Lanarkshire, on
the summit of the Cathkin hilLs, there is a large Cairn, which is surrounded with a narrow ditch.
70 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Among tlie vast variety of Druid monuments in North-Britain one of the
most interesting is the rocking stone, which seems to have existed in eveiy coun-
try and in every period (o). That those singular stones are Druid remains
cannot easily be doubted by the scepticism vi^hich denies the evidence of Druid
remains in North-Britain. It vs^as, after the subHme truths of Druidism had
fallen into the grossness of superstition, and the pure adoration of the Deity had
degenerated into delusive imposition, that the rocking stones whether natural or
artificial were brought in, either to induce belief or to heighten devotion.
And these rocking stones are still to be seen, the objects of learned curiosity,
but of ignorant wonder, in every district of North-Britain, as well as in Corn-
wall and in Wales (^).
and a small dike of eartli, and is surmounted witli a very large flat stone. Ure's Hist., p. 216. — In
lona, which has always been sacred to religious observances, there is a Cairn or a mount, which is
called Claodli-nan-Druidlineach, the burial place of the Druids, and which is sun'ounded with a
stone fence and had once a Cromlech. Stat. Acco. V. siv., p. 199 ; Smith's Gael. Antiq. : Pen-
nant's Tour, V. iii., p. 258. — In the isle of Arran, there is a Cairn or mound, within two concen-
tric circles, and near this, there is a huge Cairn of gi-eat pebbles, having a circle of stones round its
base. Pennant's Tour, V. iii.. p. 180. — In Castleton parish, in Eoxburghshire, there is a large
oblong Cairn, having at the north end of it a Dniid circle and at its south end a Cromlech. Stat.
Acco. V. xvi., p. 8.5.
(o) Borlase's Cornwall, p. 179-182. See Pennant's Tour in Wales, V. ii., p. 246, for an account of
Druid remains in every part of Europe.
(^p) In the parish of Kirkmichael, in Perthshire, there is an immense rocking stone, which
stands on a flat-topped eminence in the vicinity of a large body of Druid remains that have been
already noticed. This stone is placed on the plain surface of a rock level with the ground. It is a
very hard solid whinstone, of a quadrangular shape, approaching to the figure of a rhombus, of
which the greater diagonal is seven feet and the less five feet : its mean thickness is about two and
a half feet; and its sohd contents must therefore be about 51,075 cubical feet: its weight must
be about three tons and half a hundred, for a stone of the same quality was found to weigh
eight stone three pounds the cubic foot. By pressing down either of the extreme comers a rock-
ing motion is produced, which may be increased so as to make the distance between their lowest
depression and highest elevation a full foot. This stone makes twenty-six or more vibrations,
from one side to the other, after the pressure is wholly withdrawn. Stat. Acco. V. xv., p. 517.
On the south descent of the hill, which is opposite to the Manse of Dron, in Perthshire, there is a
large rocking stone. It is a block of whinstone, ten feet long and seven feet broad ; and it is
placed in a somewhat sloping position, and rests its central prominence upon a gi-eat flat stone,
which is fixed in the earth. On gently pressing the upper end, it begins a rocking motion, vibrating
in an arch of from one to two inches, and continues to vibrate for some time after the pressuj'e is
withdrawn. lb. V. ix., p. 483. — In the parish of Abemethy, in the same shire, upon Farg-
water, near Balvaird, the town of the bard, there is a rocking stone, which attracted the notice
of Buchanan. lb. p. 484. On the hill, called Mealyea, in the parish of Kells, in the stewartry
of Kirkcudbright, there is a vast rocking stone, which from its size, must be eight or ten tons
Ch. n. — The Tribes, their Antiquities.] OpNOETH-BRITAIN. 77
It were easy to show that the remains of Druidism are more numerous in
North than in South Britain. They do not equal, though they certainly
emulate, the stupendous works of the same kind on Salisbury Plain, and at
Abury. They were all undoubtedly the works of a people who were actuated
by great activity of religious principle, and possessed amazing ingenuity of
invention and power of execution. Those monuments also evince that the
Druids enjoyed and exerted all the knowledge and influence which have
been attributed to them by history in ancient and in modern times. From
the foregoing investigations we may perceive that the stone monuments in
North and South Britain, as they are exactly the same, must necessarily
have been erected by the same people, and nearly in the same age (g). It is
■weight : it is so nicely balanced upon two or three protuberances, tliat the pressure of the finger pro-
duces a rocking motion from one side to the other. lb. V. iv., p. 262 ; and Grose's Antiq.. V. II., p.
190. PL i. ii. This rocking stone is called in the country the Logan-sioTie. There are a variety of
rocking stones in Cornwall, which are there called Zof/aji-stones. Borlase, p. 143, 179, 181. There
are also rocking stones in Wales, in Derbyshire, and in Yorkshire, and also in Ireland. lb. p. 182 ;
Camden Brit., 762 ; Gough's Camden, V. iii., p. 36-7.
{c[) Several of the Druldical works which remain in North-Britain are of an elliptical, and
several of an oval form. On the farm of Graitney Mains, in Dumfriesshire, there are the remains
of a Druidical temple, of an oval foiTa, enclosing about half an acre of gi-ound. It is composed of
large rough whin or moor-stone, which must have been brought from a considerable distance,
there being no stones of this kind within ten or twelve miles of this place. One of the largest of
these stones measures one hundred and eighteen cubical feet. Stat. Acco., V. ix., p. 528. On
an eminence about half a mile west of the house of CljTie, in the parish of Kiltearn in Eoss-
shire, there are the remains of a Druidical temple, consisting of two ovals joined to each other,
and foimed of large upright stones. The area of both these ovals are equal, being thirteen feet
from east to west, and ten feet in the middle from north to south. At the west end of one of
them there is a stone which rises eight feet above the surface of the earth : the other stones are
from four to six feet long. Within the same oval there is a large flat altar stone, which seems to
have stood foi-merly at the east end. There are three concentric circles marked out round the
eminence, on the top of which these ovals are situated : The lowest one, at the bottom of it, is
eighty paces in circumference ; the second, twenty-eight paces above this, is about fifty
paces in circumference ; and the third, twelve paces above the second, is about thirty-five
paces in circumference. lb., V. i., p. 292. Several other Druid temples in North-Britain
are of an oval or an elliptical form ; and many of those in South-Britain are of the same form.
The grand temple of Stonehenge, and the principal circle at Stan-ton-Drew, in Somersetshire, are
of an elliptical form. The Druid temple near Town-Mailing, in Kent, is of an oval form, and has
at the east end of it a great altar stone, and near it a stone pillar. Ai'chaeoL, v 2, p. 107. The
Druid temple near Keswick, in Cumberland, is oval. Pennant's Tom- in Scotland, v. 3, p. 38,
pi. 1, fig. 1 ; and Antiq. Eepertory, v. 1, p. 239. The Druid temples at Boskednaw, at Ken-is,
and at Boscawen-un, in Cornwall, and that at Trescaw, in the Scilly isles, are all oval. Borlase
Antiq. of CorawaU, p. 198, 200, 205, pi. xv. and xvii. There are the remains of six different
Druidical temples within a mile of the present church of Kiltarlity in Invemess-shire : one of
78 An ACCOUNT [Book 1—77(6 Roman Period.
in vain, then, for sceptics to talk vaguely of there never having been Druids
in North-Britain, where so many stone monuments attest their existence and
exhibit their labours.
them is in tlie present cliurch-yard. Such of these temples as are entire consist of two concentric
circles, the external one from sixty-four to seventy-foui' yards in circumference, fonned of nine large
stones. Four of these stones, which are placed to the west-south-west and north-west, are con-
siderably larger than the other five, being from five to six and a half feet high, and broad in
proportion, and are three or four feet farther distant from each other than the other five, which
are only about four feet high. The inner circles are about ten or eleven feet distant from the
outdr one, and consist of a number of smaller stones placed near each other, about two feet high.
There is sometimes a cairn of small stones in the area of the inner circle ; several places in the same
parish are named from these circles. As Bal-na,-carrachan, the Town of the Circles, Blar-na,-
carrachan, the Field of the Circles, and a farm hamlet near the church is called Ard-driddhnack,
the heifjht of the Druids. Stat. Account, v. 13, p. 524. Druidism seems not only to have spread over
North-Britain to the extremity of Caithness, but also to have penetrated into the western islands,
and even into the Orkney islands. In the main island of Orkney, called Pomona, there are consider-
able Druidical remains at a place called Stenness. At the south end of a causeway which crosses
a narrow and shallow part of the loch of Stenness, there is a circle formed of smooth flag stones
set upright. The stones are about twenty feet high above the ground, six feet broad, and a foot
or two thick. Between this circle and the end of the causeway there are two upright stones of
the same size with the others, in one of which there is a hole of an oval form, large enough to
admit a man's head. About half a mile from the other or north-west end of the causeway, which
crosses the narrow part of the loch, there is another large circle of stones about a hundred and
ten paces in diameter. Both this and the former cu-cles are surrounded with fosses. On the
east and west of this large circle there are two artificial tumuli, or mounts of a conical form,
and somewhat hollow upon the top. About half a mile from the first mentioned circle, at the
south end of the causeway, there is a tumulus larger than the others, which has been surrounded
with a fosse. It is called the Mes-lwiv. Wallace's Orkney, p. 53 ; Stat. Account, v. 14,
p. 134 — 5. Mes-Aoio means Mes-knoll ; Hoiv, in Orkney, denotes a knoll or eminence : it is
from the Scandinavian Holl, vulgarly pronounced Hoio, which is different from the Scoto-Saxon
how, a hollow. Some parts of these grand remains appear to have been demolished since Wallace's
time. The hole, in one of the upright stones at this place, is similar to the Maen-tol's or hole
stones in Cornwall. See Borlase, p. 177, pi. xiv. Yet the foregoing intimations must only be
regarded as a few specimens of Druid remains which have been selected from an infinite number
that may be seen by the curious eye in every parish in North-Britain. The inquisitive reader may
expect a fuller detail of Druid remains in the several county histories, under the head of Anti-
quities in this work. Nerertheless scepticism has doubted, and absurdity denied, that there ever
•were Druids in any part of Scotland! Much has been written, since the revival of learning in
Europe, on the interesting subject of the Dniids, their tenets, and their worship. In the fore-
going sketch I have derived some help from a MS. Enqiiirij into Druidism, which is in my library.
Among the Gaelic Antiquities of Dr. John Smith is "A history of the Di-uids." But Frickius,
the learned and industrious Frickius, has collected, in his curious work, '-De Druidis," every
thing which had been written before him, in any language, on the Druids ; and he has added to
his elaborate treatise, "Catalogus Scriptorum de Druidis et Rebus ad Antiquitates illorum per-
tinentibus."
Ch. II. — The Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 79
The same Gaelic people undoubtedly erected all those singular monuments
in Britain and in Ireland : this position might be further illustrated by an in-
vestigation of the sepulchral remains in North-Britain, which are so intimately
connected with the religious sentiment of the ancient inhabitants. Dimnf the
first ages the modes of sepulture were various. In the most early times, how-
ever, during the existence of paganism, the burning of the dead settled into
a general practice. But the Pagans relinquished the mode as the light of
Christianity dawned upon them, and as traits of civility approached from the
illumination of their minds. Our present inquiry, however, relates chiefly to the
modes of sepulture among the Pagan people of North-Britam. They seein aU
to have burned their dead, though they appear to have somewhat differed
in the manner of inhumation, according to the rank of the deceased. In
every part of North-Britain, in the Hebrides, and in the Oi'kneys, there is
still to be traced a great number of the sepulchral remains of the first colonists
or their immediate descendants. There were formerly many more. But in
the progress of improvements, during the last century, those sacred remains
have supplied the cultivators of the soil with stones for then- fences, and
mould for their compost. These sepulchral remains of the earliest people in
North-Britain may be considered under the several distinctions of Barrows,
Cairns, Cistvaens, and Urns.
The greatest numbers of these tumuli are circular heaps, resembling a flat
cone. A great many are oblong ridges, like the hulk of a ship with its bottom
ujjwards. Some of them are composed of earth ; the most of them of stones ;
many of them of a mixture of earth and stones ; and a few of them of sand :
the great distinction, however, between the Barrow and the Cairn, consists in
this, that the first is composed only of earth, and the second of stones : in
South-Britain the Barrows chiefly prevail ; in North-Britain the Cairns abound
the most (r) : and both these, when they are of a round shape, and are covered
with green sward are called, in the last country, by the vulgar hillocks, and
by the learned tumuli.
(r) Borlase, p. 211, will have the Barroivs to be rather Burrows; as the barrow, according to him,
signifies a place of defence, but the burrow is from Bijrig, a burial place. Bailey derives the barrow
from the Saxon Beonj, Collis : Skinner equally derives the same word from the Anglo-Saxon Beorg,
tumuhis: and Ash supposes the baiTow to be derived from the Saxon Beerwe, a grove or woody
place. None of them seem to have hit upon the true derivation of the well-known term, baiTow.
Beorg, and Beurh, in the Anglo-Saxon, signify coUis, agger, acervus, tumulus : so, aefler-beorgum
means muninientum sepulchrum. Lye. But as the barrows were the works of a Celtic people, so
the name is probably derived from the Celtic language : Bar, in the British, Baraii, in its plm-al,
signify the top or summit, an excressence. Davies and Owen. Bar, in the Irish, equally means
80 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Barrows of a greater or a less size may be found in eveiy district of
North-Britain, in the most southern as well as the most northern. Near
the abbey of Newbottle there was once a remarkable Barrow, composed of
earth and of a conic figure, in height thirty feet, and in circumference at the
base ninety feet ; it was surrounded by a circle of stones, and on its top
there grew a fii' tree. When this Barrow was removed there was found in it a
stone cofiin, near seven feet long, and proportionably broad and deep ; and
from it was taken a human skull (s). Several other Barrows, both in South
and North -Britain, have been also surrounded with circles of stones (t). There
is a Barrow in the parish of Kirkmabreck, in Wigtonshire, which is called
Cairny-wanie, and which is merely the Cairn-uame of the Scoto-Irish, or Green-
Cairn of the Scoto-Saxon : when C&xmj-wanie was opened there was found in
it a stone coffin, comprehending a human skeleton that was greatly above the
ordinary size, together with an urn containing some ashes and an earthen
pitcher iu). There was a sepulchral tumulus at Elie, in Fife, which, when
opened some years ago, was found to contain several human bones of a re-
markably large size {x). In the parish of Logic, in Forfarshire, there are se-
Teral tumuli, two of which have been opened : in one of these there was found
a coffin, formed of flag stones, and containing a human skeleton, the bones
whereof were of an extraordinary size, were mostly entire, of a deep yellow
colour, and were very brittle when touched : in the other tumulus there were
found, about a foot from the surface, four human skeletons, the bones whereof
■were exceedingly large ; and near these was discovered a beautiful black ring,
like ebony, of a fine polish, and in peifect preservation ; and this ring is twelve
inches in circumference, and four inches in diameter ; it is flat in the inside,
and roimded without, and it would fit a large wrist. In the same tumulus
there was found an urn which was full of ashes (?/). In the parish of Girvan,
a head, a top, a heap. O'Brien and Shaw. Bera, in the British, signifies a pyramid, a heap, a stack,
as of corn or hay. Davies and Owen. Borra, in the Irish, means a swelling, a protuberance. O'Brien
and Shaw. And in the Scoto-Irish it signifies a pile. Stat. Account, v. 14, p. 257. Cam, in the
British and Irish, means merely a heap, as we have seen.
(s) Antiq. Trans. Edinb., p. 95.
(<) Gough's Camden, 'V. i., p. 3 : several Barrows in the Scilly Isles are edged round with large
stones. Borlase's Cornwall, p. 219.
{u) Stat. Acco., V. XV., p. 552. {x) lb. V. svii., p. 542.
(j/) Stat. Acco., V. ix., p. 51-2 : in a large oblong Cairn about a mile west from Ardoch, in
Perthshire, there was found a stone cofiin, containing a human skeleton seven feet long. lb.
"V. viii., p. 495. From those facts, with regard to the large size of the skeletons, the tradition
3n this subject should seem not to be quite groundless, as indeed Tacitus, when describing the
Caledonians, appears to intimate.
Chap. II.— r^e Tribes, their Antiquities.] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 81
in Ayrshire, there were several tumuli : in one of these there was found a stone
chest, which enclosed a clay urn, unglazed and rudely ornamented ; and the chest
was open at the top, and contained some ashes (z). In two sepulchral tumuli,
near the manse of Dun, in Forfarshire, there were found several clay ui'ns,
with sculptures, and containing ashes and pieces of bones (a). There is in
Hamilton parish a large tumulus which, when opened, was found to contain
a good many urns ; they were all of baked earth, some of them were plain,
and others of them were decorated with mouldings, without any inscriptions ;
and they contained ashes and human bones, and some of these bones were
accompanied with the tooth of a horse (b). On the west of the village of Eden-
ham, in Roxburghshire, there is a sepulchral tumulus called the Picts-hnoiv ;
out of which there were dug, some years ago, three stone coffins, one whereof
contained an urn with ashes (c). On the banks of the Cree, in Galloway,
there were several tumuli: in some of these, when they were opened in 1754,
there were found the remains of weapons of brass, which were very much cor-
roded ; one of these was formed much like a halbert ; another was shaped like a
hatcliet, having in the back part an instrument resembling a paviour's hammer ;
a third was formed like a spade, but of a much smaller size ; and each of these
weapons had a proper aperture for a handle {d). In the parish of Kirkpatrick-
Fleming, m Dumfries-shire, there were several sepulchral tumuli, one of the
largest whereof is called Belton-hSi, from the Baal-teiti probably, or fire of
Baal, which in ancient times was lighted on May-day (e). In the parish of
{:) lb. V. xii. p. 342 : in every part of North-Britain stone chests have been found in Barrows and
Cairns, as the cajfins of older times. lb. v. xiii., p. 272-3. lb. v. x., p. 186. lb. v. iii., p. 57.
(a) lb. V. iii., p. 3G2. (b) lb. v. ii., p. 208. (c) lb. v. si., p. 307.
(d) Stat. Acco., V. vii., p. 60: in a Caim on the King"s Moor, near Peebles, there was found
an urn inverted, containing the ashes of some ancient warrior, with the blade of his dagger. lb.
V. xii., p. 15. In a BaiTOw in Kirkurd parish, Peebles-shii-e, there were found the remnants of
weapons, which were formed of flint-stones ; one of the weapons resembled the head of a halbert,
another was of a circular form, and the third of a cylindi-ical shape. From these intimations we
may not only perceive the manner of the pristine interments, but the kind of weapons which were
used by the first people. Within a Barrow in the parish of Coupar, in Fife, there were found several
heads of battle-axes, formed of a very hard white-coloured stone, and neatly shaped, carved, and po-
lished, lb. V. xvii., p. 159. lb. v. x., p. 186.
(e) Some years ago, when a considerable part of Belton-hiW was removed, there was found in its
■bottom a large square stone chest, wherein were some beeuls ; other two Barrows, at some distance
northwest from Belton-hill, were also opened, when there was found in one of them a stone chest
Vol. I. M
82 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Glenholni, in Peeblessliii'e, by Tweedside, there are several Barrows, one of
which was found to contain a stone coffin, wherein was found the skeleton of a
man, haviac bracelets on his arms (/). On the coast of Banifshire, in the Boyne,
several sejDulchral tumuli have been opened : in one of them there was found
a stone coffin, containing human bones, with a deers-horu : in others there
were stone chests enclosing urns, which were full of ashes (g).
The sepulchral tumuli in the Hebrides and in the Orkney Isles are of the
same kind, both as to their structure and contents, with those on the main-
land, in their neighbourhood: and we may, from these circumstances, infer
that they are the undoubted remains of the first people. Within several tumuli
which were opened in the Isle of Skye, there were discovered stone coffins with
varus containing ashes and weapons {h). In a Barrow which was opened in
the Isle of Egg, there was found a large urn containing human bones : this
urn consisted of a large round stone which had been hollowed, and the top of
it covered with a thin flag-stone (?'). In the islands of Lismore, Gigha, and
others, there have been dug out of svach tumuli stone coffins and urns, con-
taining ashes (k).
In Pomona, the chief of the Orkney Isles, there are a number of Barrows :
in some of these, within the parish of Holm, there were found small stone
urns containing ashes (0. In the parish of Sandwick there were discovered
in several tumuli three stone chests, about fifteen or eighteen feet square,
containing ashes and fragments of bones without urns : in one of these there
was found a large urn which was shaped like a jar, and was sufficient to hold
fifteen gallons ; and it contained ashes with fragments of bones {m). In the
parish of Kirkwall there was a number of tumuli which have disclosed stone
chests containing bones that were partly consumed, together with the ashes
of the dead (71). In the Isles of Shapinsay, Sanday, and other Orkney Islands,
within wliicli there ^vas an urn of fine workmanship that was filled with ashes, and the mouth whereof
was covered with an appropriate stone ; there were also found in the chest, and near the urn, several
iron rings about the size of half a crown ; but they were so much eat up b}' rust that on being
touched they fell to pieces. Beads, the ornaments of the British women, have been found in several
other Barrows in North and South-Britain. See Douglas's Nenia. Archaiol., v. vii., p. 474 ; King's
Munimenta Antiqua, v. i., p. 2oG.
(/) Stat. Acco., v. iv., p. 435 ; lb., v. vii., p. 299. (rj) lb., v. iii., p. 57.
{k) lb., V. xvi.. p. 227 ; lb., v. sviii., p. 186. (0 lb., v. xvii., p. 287.
(/.) lb., V. :.. p. 493 ; v. vin., p. 56. (/) lb., v. v., p. 413.
(»() lb.. V. xvi., p. 459. (u) lb., v. vii., p. 557.
Ch.ll.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 83
there are sepulchral tumuli, in which have been found urns and half-burnt
bones (o) ; the whole denoting that the Orkneys must have been originally-
colonized by the Gaulic-Britons of the southern shores.
The many Barrows and other sepulchral tumuli which have been opened
in different parts of South-Britain, have evinced a perfect similarity in their
structure and composition to the same melancholy monuments in North-
Britain ; and exhibit in the curious contents of their urns and cistvaens, the
ornaments which once belonged to the British women, and the weapons that
enabled the British warriors to defend their country during the earliest ages.
The sameness in all those objects of rational curiosity attest that they were
undoubtedly the works of the same jaeople during the most ancient j)eriod of
the British history (p).
The sepulchral cairns, as they are composed of vast collections of stones, are
more numerous in North than in South-Britain, from its aboundino- more with
lapidose substances, "Within the parish of Borthwick, in Edinburghshire, there
once were a great many such cairns : In those which have been opened, and
all around them, there have been found a number of earthen urns that were
covered with flat stones and were full of half-burnt human bones ; these urns
were of coarse but ingenious workmanship, being ornamented with different
figures, and would have contained about a gallon (q). On a moor between
the parishes of Kintore and Kinellar, in Aberdeenshire, there are several se-
pulchral cairns, wherein were found a stone chest, and in it a ring of a sub-
stance like veined marble, which was large enough to take in three fingers ;
and near this stone chest was discovered an urn, containing /m«i a ?i /iatV ((/</).
In a cairn on Crameston-hill in Berwickshire, which was dispersed in 1792, there
were found several earthen urns of different sizes, containing human bones (r). A
sepulchral cairn in Bendothy parish in Perthshire being opened, there were found
in it some ashes and human bones, which had undergone the action of fire ; and
lower down in the same cairn, there were discovered two inverted urns, which
were large enough to hold thigh and leg bones ; and contained human bones :
these urns were adorned with rude sculpture, but were without inscriptions (s).
(o) Stilt. Account, V. xvii., p. 234. ; v. vii., p. 489. ; Pennant's Arctic Zool., v. i.. p. ssxv.
(/>) Archaiology, throughout; Gough's Camden, throughout; Borlase's Cornwall, p. 211 — 222;
King's Munimenta Antiq., v. i., p. 267 — 326 ; Mr. King has shown that the notion which attributes
several of those sepulchral tumuli to the Danes, is groundless.
(7) Stat. Acco., V. xiii., p. 635-0. {qq) lb. v. xiii., p. 92.
(;•) lb. V. siv., p. 584.
(s) Stat. Account, v. xix., p. 359 : in a sepulchral cairn, in the parish of East-Kilbnde, there were
M2
84 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Pmod.
la the Beauly Fritli, which is ou both sides very shallow, there are, a con-
siderable distance within the flood-mark, on the coast of Ross-shire, several
cairns, in one of which urns have been found {t). We may easily infer from
those facts how much the sea has encroached upon the flat shores of the
Beauly Frith since the distant epoch of cairns, which are now so far within its
flux.
Amidst the varieties in the manner of bui'ial among the ancient inhabitants
of our island, the Cistvaen is remarkable : the word in the British language
sig-nifies, literally, a stone chest, from Cist, a chest, and onaen, stone ; the (m)
in the British changing in composition to (v) (a). In the various practice of
those people, the Cistvaen sometimes contained the urn, which preserved the
precious aslies of the deceased ; but it often contained the ashes and bones,
without an ui'n, as we have seen. In the same manner urns were frequently
found without Cistvaens, whicb were of different sizes and shapes, as we have
perceived, according to the fashion of successive ages, and to the rank of the
deceased (b).
found some urns, wliicli were open at both their ends ; were narrow in the middle : and were glazed
and ornamented with flowers. Ure's Hist., p. 214 — 15. In a sepulchral cairn, which was opened in
the parish of Kirkinner in Wigtonshire, there was found a stone coffin containing human bones, which
were half burnt. Stat. Account, v. 4, p. 145.
(?) Stat. Account, v. 17, p. 350 ; one of those caii-ns, to the south-east of Redcastle, stands four
hundred yards within the flood mark, and is of considerable size. On the south side of the same frith,
at some distance from the mouth of the river Ness, a considerable space within the flood-mark, there
is a large cairn, which is called Caim-airc, that is, the cairn in the sea. West from this, in the same
frith, there are three other cairns, at considerable distances from each other : the largest is a huge heap
of stones in the middle of the frith, and is accessible at low water : and, it appears to have been a
sepulchral cairn, from the urns which are found in it. lb. v. 9, p. 631.
(«) Davies and Owen : it is cm-ious to observe that the British word Cist remains to this day in
the Scoto-Sason language.
(6) Stat. Account, v, 12, p. 342 ; v. 13, p. 272—3 ; v. 10, p. 186 ; v. 3. p. 57 ; which have
been already quoted. lb. v. 14, p. 113 — 370. Scarcely anything has appeared within any of
the sepulchral tumuli which have been opened in North-Britain to shew that the funeral remains
were Eoman. Two circumstances are always wanting; (1.) The sepulchral urn with its appro-
priate ashes and burnt bones, ought to be found around some Roman camp ; or, (2.) It ought to
be discovered neai- some Eoman road : such urns have been found near the Eoman camps at
Ardoch and at Orrea. Stat. Account, v. 8, p. 495 ; v. 15, p. 528. It has been a very com-
mon error to attribute those sepulchral urns, which have been discovered in North-Britain, to the
Eomans, on the supposition that they originally introduced um burial, and that they only were
capable of making such urns. lb. v. 14, p. 30; Trans, of Antiq. Soc. of Scotland, v. 1, p. 304:
and so, Douglas's Nenia, p. 127, 131—3. But Ifr. King has evinced that several barrows.
Cb. II.— r//c Trihe/', tlidv A nfiqtutks.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 85
The same observation may be made with respect to urns, whicb have been
generally found in tumuli, but often below the surface without a hillock : they
were composed, as we have seen, usually of potteiy, sometimes of stone ; and
they were of different shapes and variously ornamented, according to the taste
of the tunes and ability of the parties (c). There are still other varieties in the
modes of sepultures in South and North-Britain. In both, sepulchral tumuli
have been found in close connection with the Druid circles. At Achen-corthie,
the field of the circles, there is a Druid temple, which, we have already seen, was
composed of three concentric circles ; and there has been dug v;p, between the
two outer circles, a cistvaen, about three feet long and one and a half feet
wide, wherein there was found an urn containing some ashes (c^). And we
may thus see an additional example of the simUar policy, which appears to have
existed in every age, between the inhabitants in the southern and northern
parts of our island, as well as the close continuity which there seems to have
existed between the Druid places of worship and of sepulture, and those of the
Christians in Gaelic Britain.
There appears to have been a still more natural connection between the
British strengths and sepulchral tumuli ; as stone chests, and clay tn-ns, cou-
wHch have been falsely attributed to the Romans, are really British ; and that the Roman
sepultures in Britain are generally without tumuli : it was not the usual practice of the Romans to
raise barrows over their dead. Munimenta Antiq. v. 1, p. 300 — 304. And it ought to be recol-
lected that the Danes had desisted from burning their dead before their expeditions into Britain.
Douglas's Nenia, p. 125.
(c) In the parish of Mousewald, in Dumfries-shire, urns containing pieces of human bones and
ashes have been found in places where there was no appearance of tumuli. Stat. Account, v. / ,
p. 299. Near Fordun, in Kincardineshire, there have been discovered clay urns, which were enclosed
in stone cases, that were sunk in the earth without any tumulus ; and which contained ashes. lb. v.
4, p. 498 ; and Mr. Leslie, the Minister's Letter to me. In the parish of Oleish, in Kinross-shire,
several urns were found under a large stone and some under small cairns : the m'ns appear to have been
made of coarse materials, and to have been pretty well glazed and ornamented with dotted lines. lb.
V. 3, p. 561.
(d) Stat. Account, v. 4, p. 456. At Barrach, in the parish of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, a peasant
digging for stones in a Druid temple found, about eighteen inches below the surface, a flat stone
lying horizontally ; and on raising it, he discovered an urn full of human bones, some of which were
quite fresh ; but on being touched they crumbled into dust ; this urn had no bottom, but was placed
on a flat stone such as covered its top : and about a yard from this excavation another urn was
found containing similar remains. Scots Mag., 1772, p. 581. There are many other instances both
in South and North-Britain, which evince an intimate connection between Druid remains and tumuli.
Stukeley's Abury ; Douglas's Nenia, p. 171 ; Gough's Camden, v. 1, p. 285 — 294, and pi. xv. ; Gent.
Mag. 1767, p. 170.
80 An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period,
taiuiug aslies and bones, are frequently dug up about such ancient fortresses.
On the east side of the British fort at Inchtuthel, there are two sepulchral
tumuU (e). Such were undoubtedly the burial places of the chiefs who com-
manded the Caledonian hill-forts in early times.
Analoo-ous to those are the sepulchral cairns which, at the end of so many
eventful ages, still denote the fields of ancient conflicts. It is more than pro-
bable that the battle at the Grampian is still perpetuated, and that the
memory of the Caledonians who fell in defence of their countiy is yet pre-
served by sepulchral tumuli if). In the parish of Liberton, Edmburghshire,
there were several large cairns, wherein were found variovis stone chests,
enclosing urns, which contained ashes and weapons : some of these cairns,
w^hicli still remain, are called the Ca^stanes, or Battle-staTies (g). Single stones
in various parts of North-Britain are still known by the appropriate name of
Caf- stanes (h). The name is plainly derived from the British Cad, or the
Scoto-Irish Cath, which signifies a battle. On Lauder-muir, in Berwickshire,
where a battle is said to have been fought, there are a number of sepulchral
tumuli ; and there have been found near them fragments of swords, of bows,
and of arrows, which have been pointed with flints (i). The early practice of
raising cairns to perpetuate the memoiy of those who had fallen in domestic
conflicts, or in repelhng foreign invasions, has come down to our own times (k).
(e) Stat. Account, v. 9, p. 50.5. There are several sepulcliral hillocks on a moor contiguous to a
British fortress, in the parish of Monzie : in one of these, called Cocn-Comhall, a stone coffin was found.
lb. V. 15, p. 257. An urn curiously carved and filled with ashes was dug up within the area of a
Biitish fortress on the top of Benan-hill in Ap-shire. lb. v. 3, p. 586. Under the min of the wall
of a British fort, in the parish of Pittenain, Lanarkshire, there were found several stone chests, including
urns, which contained ashes. lb. v. 12, p. 39.
(/) " On the hill above the moor of Ai-doch, says Gordon, Itin. Septeii., p. 42, are two great
" heaps of stones, the one called Carn-wochel, the other Carnlee : the former is the greatest curiosity
" of this kind that ever I met with ; the quantity of great rough stones lying above one another
" almost surpasses belief, which made me have the curiosity to measure it ; and I found the whole
" heap to be about one hundred and eighty-two feet in length, thirty in sloping height, and forty-
" five in breadth at the bottom. " The minister of the parish concurs in this account ; and adds,
that there has been found in it a stone coffin wherein there was a skeleton seven feet lung. Stat.
Account, V. 8, p. 497.
(.9) Transac. Edin. Soc. Antiq., v. 1, p. 308.
{h) Stat. Account, v. 19, p. 591 ; Mait. Edin., p. 508 ; Cough's Camden, v. 3, p. 317 : a rade up-
right stone, which stands at Kinver, in Staffordshire, is called the battle stone. King's Munimenta
Antiq., V. 1, p. 120.
(i) Stat. Account, v. 1, p. 77.
(i-) lb. V. 15, p. 279 ; V. 13, p. 422 ; v. 15, p. 52G— 7 ; v. 17, p. 444 ; v. G, p. 136 ; v. 17, p. 516 ;
V. 17, p. 442 ; Cough's Camden, v. 3, p. 430.
Cb. n.—T/ie Tribes, their A ntiquitics.] OfNORTH-BRITAIN. 87
Connected with those cairns of i-emembrance are stones of memorial. Be-
sides the upright stones, which we have seen so essentially connected with
Druid works, there is, in every district of North-Britain, a variety of stone
pUlars which are in their natural shape without the mark of any tool, and
which are called traditionally standing stones, from their upright position. They
frequently appear single and often in groups of two or three, or four, and
sometimes in a greater number. These stones have been raised in successive
ages to perpetuate events which, as the stones are without inscriptions, they
have not transmitted. In Arran there are tv/o large stone columns, which
ai'e quite rude (l). There is a number of these columnar stones in Mull,
whereof some are very large, and are commonly called by the Scoto-Irish inha-
bitants Carra, a word signifying in their language, a stone pillar (m). In
Fife there are four huge standing stones, near Lundin, and one near Dysart,
which tradition says are memorials of battles (n). For the same purpose
similar stones have been erected in every part of North-Britain, which, as they
are without inscriptions, do not answer the end either of personal vanity or of
national gratitude (o).
We are thus led on to some inquiries with regard to the hill-forts, and other
safeguards of the original people. That such strengths existed in North-
Britain, at the epoch of the Roman invasion, we know from the information
of facts (p). Burrenswark hill, in Aimandale, was the site of a Selgovte fort,
(Z) Pennant's Tour, v. 3, p. 178 ; there are otliers of tlie same Mnd In Arran. JIartin's West.
Isles, p. 220. There are shnilar stones in Hams. lb. 47 — 59.
(m) Stat. Account, v. 14, p. 154, 203.
()i) Stat. Account, v. 4, p. 546 ; v. 12, p. 522.
(o) See the Stat. Accounts every where. Similar stones may still be seen in many parts of
England, Wales, Cornwall, and in Ireland. Borlase's Coi'nwall, p. 160 — 1 ; Rowland's Mona ;
King's Munimenta, v. 1, p. 113 — 23.
(p) The situation of those British strengths, their relative positions to one another, and the
accommodations attached to them show that they have rather been constnicted for the purpose of
protecting the tribes from the attacks of one another than for the purpose of checking an invading
enemy. They are placed upon eminences in those parts of the country which, even in those early
ages, must have been the most habitable, and furnished the greatest quantity of subsistence. The}-
frequently appear in groups of three, four, and even more, in the vicinity of each other ; and thej-
are so disposed upon the tops of heights that sometimes a considerable number may be seen from
one another ; having one much larger and stronger than the others, in the most commanding
situation, which has no doubt been the distinguished post of the chief. Such was the large and
strong post on the Eldon hills, around which, in the adjacent country, there are the remains of more
than a dozen smaller strengths : such also were the large strengths on Burrenswark-hill, at Inch-
88 An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The Loman Period.
and of the Roman station of Trimontium, as we may see in Ptolomy and
Richard. All around the edge or summit of this hill there are traces of
something Hke the foundation of a breastwork : but this defence, as well as
the lines of circumvallation, appear to have been prior to the camps, and
possibly might even have existed anterior to the arrival of the Romans, accord-
ing to Roy. The meaning of the name, which he egregiously mistook, would
alone establish the fact that a British fort existed on this commanding hill be-
fore the construction of the Roman camps (q). The term Burrin may be
derived from the British Bur, the plural Burau, signifying an inclosure or
entrenchment, or work thrown up for defence (r) ; Yet Birne, Byrn,
Byrna, signify thorax, lorica, in the Anglo-Saxon ; and ivarh is merely
Scoto-Saxon for loorh. The coincidence of the British and Saxon
terms for a defensive work has preserved the ancient name to the present
times. From Burrenswark, about two miles, there is a village named Birrens
or Burrens, at which there is a Roman camp : there are at Burren hill, in
Mousewald parish, Dumfriesshire, and at Burren hill, in Kirkbean parish, in
Kirkcudbright, the remams of fortifications : from the coincidence of the facts
we may easily perceive whence all those fortified hills derived their appropriate
appellations. Burron hill, in Mousewald parish, was plainly the commanding-
site of a British strength, being surrounded by a double ditch (s). Near
BurronhUl there is another British fort on the summit of Payiteth-hill, which
also commands an extensive prospect (t). On a well known hill, ^^'hich is now
called Wardlaw, in the parish of Caerlaverock, there is a circular British
fortress that is surrounded with two ditches at the top, whence there is a most
extensive view. On the same site there are faint traces of a Roman camp, the
tuthel, tlie Catertliuns, Ban\i-hill, Castle-over, and otliers, all which, had their subordinate posts
around them ; and the remains of many of those strengths are still to be seen. That many of those
fortresses were in existence before the Romans invaded North-Britain, appears from this decisive
circumstance, that several of the larger strengths were converted into Eoman posts. The large
British fort on the Eldon hills, that at Inchtuthel, that at Castle-over, and some other smaller
British fortlets were converted into Eoman posts. We may also draw the same inference from
this curious fact that Eoman camps are judiciously placed among several groups of those Biitish
strengths, for the evident purpose of overawing and watching them.
(fj) See this station described in book i. ch. iii. of this work, and the tme etymon of Trimon-
tium, from Tre, the well known British appellative for a town : see Eoy's Antiq., pi. xvi., for a
plan and sections of this hill and camps: see also the Trans, of the Antiq. Society of Scot.,
V. 1, p. 125.
('•) Owen, in vo. (s) Stat. Account, v. 7, p. 298.
(t) Id. The prefix Pan is plainly a corrruption of the British Pen, which signifies a head or top.
Cb. II.— T/(e Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 89
area whereof is now much ploughed up (w). This eminence afterwards served
as a watch-hill to a strong castle of the Maxwells, who were wardens of this
frontier during the middle ages. From this circumstance it is apparent that
this commodious height acquired the Scoto-Saxon name of Wardlaw (x). In
the same vicinity there is on Eskdale-moor Castle-over, which appears to have
been a British fortress before the establishment of the Roman post on the
same commodious site. The ancient entrenchment is of an oval form on the
top of a hill ; and there are a number of small strengths of a similar nature on
the surrounding eminences (y).
In the parish of Menmuir, in Forfarshire, are two well known hill-forts called
White Caterthun, standing to the south, and Brown Caterthun, to the north-
ward (z). Pennant, whose Welsh etymons are not always accurate, says that
the literal translation of Caterthun is C&m.\>town (a). The name is plainly from
the British words, Cader, a fortress, a stronghold, and Dtm, a hill (h). Several
of the fortified hills in Wales bear the same prefix Cader; as Cader-Dm-
moel, Cader-Idr'is, and others : Cader-dun would be made CacZer-dhun by the
Scoto-Irish, Cater-thun by the Scoto-Saxons, and Fort-hill by the English.
These are said to be decidedly reckoned amongst the most ancient Caledonian
strongholds, and to be coeval with what are called British posts (c). White
Caterthun is of uncommon strength : it is of an oval form, constructed of a
stupendous dike of loose stones, the convexity of which, from the base withm
to that without, is a hundred and twenty-two feet: on the outside, a hollow,
which is made by the disjjosition of the stones, surrounds the whole. Round the
base is a deep ditch ; and below, about a liundred yards, are vestiges of another
trench that went round the liill. The area within the stoney hill is flat ; the
length of the oval is four hundred and thirty -six feet ; the transverse diameter
two hundred : near the east side is the foundation of a rectangular building ;
and there are also the foundations of other erections, which are ch-cular and
smaller ; all which foundations had once their superstructures, the shelters of
the possessors of the post : and there is a hollow which is now nearly filled
(i/) Pennant's Tour, v. iii., p. 95 ; Munimenta Antiq., v. i., p. 28 ; Stat. Account, v. vi., p. 31.
(a:) See Weard and Hleaiv, in Somner.
{y) See Eoy's Antiq., pi. xxvi., for a plan and section of Castle-over, wbicli has exactly the same
appearance and form as the Caterthun.
(c) Ainslie's map of Forfar-shire ; Stat. Account, v. v., p. 150, and v. iv., p. 214.
(a) Tour, V. ii., p. 159. (b) Davis and Owen.
(c) King's Munimenta Antiq., v. i., p. 27, and pi. i. and ii., which exhibit beautiful and accui-ate
drawings of the White Cater-thun.
Vol. I. N
90 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
with stones, and which was once the well of the fort {d). The other fortress,
which is called Brown Catei-thun, from the colour of the earth that composes
the ramparts, is of a circular form, and consists of various concentric dikes (e).
Similar to the Caterthuns is the British fortress on Barra-hill, m Aberdeen-
shh-e. This fort was of an elhptical form : the ramparts were partly built with
stones ; having a large ditch that occupies the whole summit of the hill, which,
as it is about two hundred feet above the vale, overlooks the low ground
between it and the mountain of Benachie. It was surrounded by three lines
of circumvallation. Facing the west the hill rises very steep, and the middle
line is interrupted by rocks ; the only access to the fort is on the east-side,
where the ascent is easy, and at this part the entry to the fort is perfectly
obvious. This Caledonian hill-fort is now called, by the tradition of the
country, Cumviin's Camp, from the defeat which the Earl of Buchan there
sustained when attacked by the gallant Bruce. Of the name of this strength
it may be observed that Bar, in the British language, as we have seen, is a
top or summit ; and its plural is Barau {/) : but as this hill has only one top,
we may suppose that the name is from Bar, which, in the Scoto-Irish, equally
signifies a summit, and Ra', in the same speech, signifying a fort, a strength (g).
Barry-hiU, near Alyth, in Perthshire, is probably nothing more iu the deri-
vation of its name than Bar-ra, a hill-fort. At the base Barry-hill is about
a mUe in circumference, and six hundred and seventy-six feet high. The sum-
mit has been levelled into an area of about one hundred and sixty-eight yards
in circumference within the rampart. Barry-hiU appears, from its vast ditch
and walls, to have been a fortress of impregnable strength. The approach to
the fort was from the north-east, along the verge of a precipice ; and the en-
trance was secured by a bulwark of stones, the remains whereof still exist.
Over the ditch, which was ten feet broad, and fourteen feet below the founda-
tion of the wall, a narrow bridge was raised, about eighteen feet long and two
feet broad : this bridge was composed of stones, which had been laid together
without much art, and vitrified on all sides, so that the whole mass was firmly
(rf) Those intimations correspond witli the remains of the several British forts in South-Britain,
which had their Cells, and structures, and wells. Pennant's Tour in Wales, v. ii., p. 203, 215, 216,
321 ; Archaiol., v. iii., p. 305, pi. xiv.
(e) Pennant's Tom-, v. ii., p. 157 — 9 ; King's Munimenta Antiq., v. i., p. 27.
(/) Davis, Richards, and Oweu.
{g) O'Brien and Shaw : there is a British fortress on Pen-y-crog, in Brecknockshire, which ia said
to be on the top of a high hill ; to be of an oval foi-m, and to be surrounded by t/iree deep and broad
entrenchments. Archaiol., v. i., p. 299. See the Drawing of this fortress.
' /' T., r
To ftiiY 'p
Ch.U.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 91
cemented : this is the only part of the fortifications which appears to have been
intentionally vitrified (h). There seems to be no vestige of a well ; but west-
ward, between the base of the mound and the precipice, there was a deep pond
which had been recently filled up. The tradition of the country, which is
probably derived from the fiction of Boece, relates that this vast strength of
Barry-hill was the appropriate prison of Arthur's queen, the well known
Guenever, who had been taken prisoner by the Picts. About a quarter of a
mile eastward, on the declivity of the hill, there are some remains of another oval
fort, which was defended by a strong wall and deep ditch ; and which, how-
ever, was of less strength than the preceding. The same tradition relates,
with similar appearance of fiction, that there was once a subterraneous commu-
nication between those two British strengths on Barry-hill (i).
There are many forts in every district of North Britain of a similar nature
and of equal magnitude ; and several of those fortresses have also the remains
of the same kind of structures, within the ai'ea of each, for the same purpose of
shelter. There is a fortress of this kind, which commands an extensive view of
the lower part of Braidalban (b). On the summit of a hill, called Dun-Evan,
in Nairnshire, there is a similar fortress, consisting of two ramparts, which sur-
round a level space of the same oblong form with that of Craig-Phadric, though
not quite so large. Within the area of Dun -Evan, there are the traces of a ivell
and the x-emains of a large mass of building which once furnished shelter to the
defenders of the fort (c). In Glenelg, in Inverness-shire, there is a similar fort :
the top of the hill is surrounded with a stone rampart, and in the area there is the
vestige of a circular building (d), for the use of the ancient inhabitants. Within
(h) It is observed by tlie Rev. Dr. Playfair, that " among tlae niins, tliere are several pieces of
vitrified stone ; but this vitrifaction must have been accidental, as they are inconsiderable." Stat.
Account, V. i., p. 508.
(t) For a more minute description of those fortresses, see the Stat. Account, v. i., p. 508 — 9,
and V. vi., p. 405 : there appears, from those descriptions, to be the remains of some superstructures
within the walls, the undoubted remains of the dwellings of the ancient inhabitants who defended
the fortress.
(i) Stobie's Map of Perthshire ; Pennant's Tour, v. ii. p. 53 ; and this British strength Mr. King
has mistaMngly described as lying in the parish of Moulin, in Athol. Munimenta Antiq., v. i.,
p. 30.
(c) Trans, of the Royal Soc. Edin., v. ii., p. 13, part ii. The area is said to be about seventy paces
long and thirty broad within the walls. William's Account of Remarkable Ruins, p. 36.
(d) This is exactly similar to the circular enclosure within the centre of Caerbran, a hill fort in
Cornwall. Borlase, p. 346.
N2
92 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
sight there is another of these retreats which are called in Scoto-Irish Ba'-dhun,
says Pennant, the place of refuge (e).
A much more comjjlete specimen of those hill-fortresses with buildings in
the upper area of them, is that on Carby-hill, in the parish of Gastleton, Rox-
burghshire. This hill stands detached from all others, and commands a most
extensive view of a wide country. The whole summit of the hill, which is cir-
cular, and is about a hundred feet diameter, is surrounded by a very strong wall
of stones. In the centre of the area there is a circular building of stone, and
around this there are other circuitous erections of stone lying circumjacent.
A road for ascending to the fort appears plainly to have been made in a
winding coiirse round the hill, so as to enter the fortress on the south
side (/).
Beyond Liddel Water, northward, on the summit of a hill, there is a camp
which is nearly of a square form, and about three hundred feet diameter : the
rampart is entirely of earth, and is about eighteen feet high ; but within the
area, as in Carby Fort, there are no remains of any buildings. This square
camp, which thus stood opposed to the British fortress, is plainly a remain of the
Romans that they had placed here, according to their usual custom, to besiege,
or muffle, the previous strength. A similar coincidence appears in the same
parish. On the farm of Flight, near to the Castle of CKntwood, there are two
camps at a little distance from each other ; the one is round, and is fortified with
a stone wall about a hundred feet diameter ; the other is square, about a hun-
dred and sixty-eight feet in length, and strengthened with two ramparts of
earth {g). There are similar coincidences in the same vicinity, which equally
establish a curious fact and illustrate a singular policy. On two hills to the
eastward of the village of Bengal, in Annandale, there are two fortresses ; the
one circular and British, the other square and Roman ; and they equally stand
opposed to each other, being only separated by a narrow morass. A little
(e) Toui', V. iii., p. 336 — 7 : but there is no sucli word in the Gaelic as Ba , for a ptece ; Ball is
a spot, dion, not dun, signifies shelter, or protection. Dun, wliich in the oblique case is dhun, signifies 1,
a hill, and secondarily a fort, from the summits of hills being in ancient times the sites of the forts : /f
Ba' is the plural of Bo, a Cow : so according to the intimations of Pennant, Ba'-dhun might be pro-
perly enough explained to be the Cows-fort, or safe-guard. But this notion and name are more
modern than the age of the Britons.
(/) Stat. Acco., V. svi., p. 83 ; wherein may be seen a draught of the fort, with the circular struc-
tures within it. There are similar structures within the areas of Castel-an-dinas, and Buntine Hill, in
Cornwall. Borlase, p. 346 — 7 : there are similar structures in the area of Dinas, a hill-fort near
Llandudno, in Wales. Pennant's Tour, v. ii. p. 346.
{g) Stat. Acco. t. xvi., p. 84.
Ch.ll.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 93
higher in Annandale there is a pretty entire British fortress at Drysdale-gate,
occu^jying about two acres of ground, and commanding a most extensive pros-
pect : about half a mUe eastward from this, beyond an intervening moor, there
is a large Eoman camp (</). If the Roman policy be apparent, as we have for-
merly seen, this circumstance would evince that the British strengths existed
before the Roman times (A).
In the country upon the Forth northward of the Roman wall, on the isthmus
between the friths, there are a number of British forts which are perched upon
little hills. The round, sometimes the oval summits of those hills, are sur-
roimded by a ramjDart, which on many of them stUl remains. And the general
appellation in the country for those forts is Keir, which is evidently a corrup-
tion of the British Caer, a fort, the (C) being pronounced in that speech like (K)
in the Scoto-Saxon (i).
Such were some of the British forts standing southward of the Forth. There
is also a range of the same kind of strengths along the face of the country, on
the north side of the same river, which are equally known by the common name
of Keir, and which appear to have been the only Caledonian posts which were
designed by them to oppose the Roman progress, as indeed Tacitus inti-
mates {h).
(g) Stat. Acco., v. ix., p. 423 — 6.
(h) There are many other instances of the judicious position of Roman camps in particular
situations, for the evident pm-pose of overawing or besieging the adjacent British strengths. In
the districts upon the eastern side of the Dee, in Kirkcudbright, there are a gi-eat nximber of British
strengths, which protected a part of the Selgovse people in the western extremity of theu- coun-
try ; and among these we find the remains of three Roman camps, which were placed in appro-
priate situations for overawing the Selgovae posts. See the Stat. Acco., v. xi., p. 24 — 5, with the
map prefixed. The Roman camp at LjTie-Kii-k is placed in the midst of some British hi]l-forts,
which formed the safe-guards of a part of the Gadeni tenitoiy on the western extremity of their
country. See Armstrong's map of Peeblesshire and the companion to it. Several other instances
of the relative situation of Roman posts to the previous strengths of the Britons may be seen in
the account of Roman transactions in North-Britain, and in the detail of the British antiquities in
the county histories. But what must have made the yoke sit very uneasy on the conquered Britons,
was the invidious cu-cumstance that several of the distinguished posts of their chiefs were converted
into Roman stations, which completely commanded the subordinate British strengths around them, as
we have seen.
(i) Of such forts, and names, there are in the parish of Kippen, A'«tV-hiU of Glentirran, A'eiV-hill
of Dasher, Keir-hrae of Drum, A'«H--know of Ammore and A'ezV-brae of Garden : and all these forts
are of the above description. Stat. Acco., v. xviii., p. 329. A httle southward of the village of Gar-
gunnock, there is a conical eminence called the A^en'-hill, the summit of which was sun-ounded by a
rampart of a circular form. lb. v. xviii., p. 116.
(k) lb. V. xvii., p. 58 : the prefix in Car-by-hill, before mentioned, is merely the British Caer, a
fort.
94 AnACOOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
At the base of the Campsie Hills, about three miles from the Peel of Kirkin-
tilloch, there are the remains of two British forts on the summit of their several
hills, which are each surrounded by ditches and ramparts in a cu'cular foi-m
as the hills are round : one of these, which is called in the country the Meikle
Reeve, is about a hundred yards in diameter, the other, which is kno^vn by the
appropriate name of the Maiden Castle, is about twenty yards in diameter {I).
A mile northward fx'om the Roman fort of Barhill, on the same wall, there is a
British fortress at Ball Castle, and it is situated on a small mount of a trian-
gular shape. About a mile northward of another Roman fort at Wester-wood,
there once was a British fort at Cunny Park, of a similar form and dimen-
sions with other fortresses that owed their erectionu to British hands, before
the ancient inhabitants were instructed by Roman arts, and which defended the
tribes from each other before they were called on to defend their country from
foreign intruders (m).
Within the parish of Castleton there are also several circular forts, which are
appropriately called Picts-ivorJcs. They are all strongly fortified by a rude
wall of large stones. They seem also to have been erected with a view to
foreign as well as to domestic war. There are two of those forts near Herds-
house, two on the farm of Shaws, one on Toftholm, one on Foulshiels, one on
Cocklaw, one on Blackburn, and one on Shortbuttrees. When the ruuis of this
last fort were lately removed, there was found on the south side of it a place,
which was ten feet wide and twenty feet long, and was paved with flat stones,
and enclosed by the same sort of stones that were set on edge, and there was
discovered within this enclosure what seems to intimate its culinary use, ashes
and burnt sticks (n).
On the east side of Loch-Ness stands the mountain fortress of Dundhardduil,
upon a very high hill of a circular and indeed a conical shape. The summit of
it is only accessible on the south-east side by a narrow ridge which connects
the mount with a hilly chain that runs up to Stratherric. On every other
quarter the ascent is almost perpendicular, and a rapid river winds round two-
thirds of the circumference of the base. The summit is surrounded by a very
strong wall of dry stones, which was once of a great height and thickness. The
enclosed area is an oblong square of twenty-five yards long and fifteeen yards
bi'oad, and it is level, is clear of stones, and has on it the remains of a well.
(/) Stat. Acco., V. sv., p. 377. (m) Stat. Acco., v. xviii., p. 291—2.
(«) Stat. Acco., V. xvi., p. 84. From tlieir circularity, those Picts-ivorks are also known to the
people by the appropriate name of romul-abouts.
Cb..ll.— The Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OpNOETH-BRITAIN. 95
Upon a shoulder of this hill, in the course of the ascent, about fifty feet below
the summit, there is a Druid temple, consisting of a circle of large stones which
are firmly fixed in the ground with a double row of stones, extending from one
side as an avenue or entry to the circle (s). In the parish of Penycuik, on the
Linton road, near the ten mile stone, on an eminence there are the remains of
a British fortress, which is called by the country people the Castle. It has an
oval area of eighty-four yards long and sixty-seven broad, and is surrounded
by two ditches, each of which is four yards wide, and having in the middle,
between the ditches, a rampart six yards broad. In the area there is a number
of tumuli, about eleven yards each in diameter. There is a similar fort on the
side of Harkin-burn, withm the woods of Penycuik (t).
From the foregoing details, it is now apparent that the above mentioned hill-
forts and other strengths, which may still be traced in North-Britain by their
remarkable remains, are all similar in their structure, form, and site to the
British hill fortresses in England, Wales, and Cornwall, that were everywhere
in Britam the safe-guards of the first people or their immediate descendants.
The site which was chosen for the whole was the level summit of hills with
difficult access, while the Roman camps were generally placed on rising grounds
below. The ramparts of all those British forts were composed of dry stones and
earth, without any appearance of mortar or cement. They vary in their forms
according to the figure of the hills whereon they wei'e placed. In the areas of
some of them there are still to be seen the ruins of buildmgs for habitation,
and of wells which supplied them with water. In the areas of a few of those
forts, both in North and South-Britain, there are tumuh. There appears to
have accompanied some of those fortresses on the declivity of the hUls below,
outworks, which were probably designed as shelter for the cattle belonging to
those who defended the forts above. The hill-forts in Ireland, which are
called in the Irish language and antiquities, Raths, and which have been mis-
takingly attributed to the Danish uivaders, were really the strengths of the ancient
(s) Phil. Trans, of Edin., v. ii. part ii., p. 14 — 15. There are several Druid remains on Carnbre,
a British hill-fort in Cornwall. Borlase, p. 118—19. Near the British hill-fort on Warton Craig in
Lancashire, there are three rocking stones, which stand in a right line from North to South, at equal
distances, about forty feet asunder. Archaiol. v. is., p. 212., pi. xv. Near a British hUl-fort called
Dinas, in the vicinity of Llandudno, in Wales, there is a large Maensigl, or rocking stone. Pennant's
Tour, V. ii., p. 346.
(() Stat. Acco., V. s., p. 431. In the area of a British hill-fortress on Moel-y-Gaer, in Wales,
there is a small artificial mount. Pennant's Tour in Wales, v. i., p. 85. In the area of the British
hill-fort on Pen-maen-mawi-, there is a barrow, or tumulus of the longitudinal sort. Archaiol. v. iii.,
p. 3U6.
96 AnACCOUNT. [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Irish : and those Raths are similar in their site and structure to the hUl-forts
of the ancient Britons in South and North Britain ; the Raths were placed on
the summit of hills ; were generally surrounded with a greater or less number
of entrenchments. In the areas of several of them there were huts or other
buildings for habitations, and wells for supplying the garrisons with water. In
some of those forts there is the appearance of excavations like caves, which
were probably the repositories for stores («). Every intimation concurs to attest
that all those strengths were the work of kindred hands, for the safeguard of the
Gaelic inhabitants within the British islands.
Connected with those British forts on the summits of heights are the safe-
guards which have been found in excavations within the earth below. The
most ancient people in every country and in every age have constructed hiding
holes for the safety, both of their property and persons, during seasons of dan-
ger. The inhabitants of the East, and of the West, have equally resorted to
this rude policy of unprotected tribes {x). The Britons in the most early times,
as the individual was Httle protected by the many, resorted to this subterraneous
shelter iy). The Caledonian descendants of the Britons, as they were perhaps
less civilized, equally adopted similar safeguards {z). The same sort of excava-
tions for similar purposes have been discovered in Cornwall {/). The same
sort of subterraneous buildings have also been found in congenial Ireland {g).
From all those coincidences, we may easily suppose that the subterraneous safe-
guards which have been disco vei-ed in many parts of North-Britain, were con-
structed by the pristme people during a rude age Qi).
These interesting objects of a rational curiosity may be considered under three
heads : (1.) The artificial structures which have been formed under ground of
rude stones without cement; (2.) Natural caves in rocks, which have been
made more commodious by art ; and, (3.) Caves which have been appropriated
as religious retreats in later times.
Of the first sort are the subterraneous apartments which have been disco-
vered in Forfarshire, within the parish of Tealing : this subterraneous buUding
(«f) Munimenta Antiq., v. i., p. 77 — 9 ; Gough's Camden, v. iii., p. 482 — 3, wlierein there is a
description and view of the Bath, at Ardscul.
(.1-) King's Munimenta Antiqua, v. i., p. 44 — 7.
{y) lb. 48 ; wherein Diodorus Siculus is quoted for the fact.
{z) lb. ; and the Eemains, ' (/) Borlase, p. 292. {g) Wright's Louthiana, p. 16,
{h) See the Stat. Acco. throughout; Martin's Western Isles, p. 219; Pennant's Tom-, v. iii., p.
181 — 2 : it is moreover to be added, that all those subten-aneous safe-guards are constracted of rough
stones without cement of any kind.
Ch. II. — The Tribes, their Antiquities] OfNOKTH-BEITAIN. 97
was composed of large flat stones, without any cement, consisting of two or
three apartments, which were not above five feet wide, and were covered with
stones of the same kind : and there were found in this subterraneous building
some wood ashes, several fragments of large earthen vessels, and one of the
ancient hand-mills, called querns. In the same parish there has been disco-
vered a similar building, which the country people call in the Irish language a
weem or cave : it was about four feet high, and four feet wide ; and it was
composed of large loose stones : there were found in it a broad earthen vessel
and an instrument resembling an adze (i). In the same shire, near Lundie-
house, there has been discovered a subterraneous building of the same kind,
constructed of rough stones that had never felt a tool, but without cement :
and there were found in this structure the remains of some burnt matter, the
fragments of small bones, and some querns about fourteen inches diameter, with
the remnant of an iron handle, and with appearances which indicate that they
had been much worn (k). In the parish of Auchterhouse have been found two
subterraneous buildings which are also called Weems, and which also contained
ashes, bones, querns, and a brass ring without any inscription (I). Several
hiding holes of a smaller size, and of a somewhat different construction, have
long been known in the Western Hebrides (m). In Sanday, one of the Orkney
Isles, there are several barrows, one whereof being opened was found to contain
a building nine feet in diameter, round on the outside, but square and hollow
within, with a well at the bottom: in the upper part of the building there was
found a human skeleton standing almost upright (n).
In every part of North-Britain there are natural caves which have been
improved into hiding places by artificial means. In Applecross parish, there
(i) Stat. Acco., V. iv., p. 101. (k) Stat. Acco., v. xviii., p. 117 — 19.
(/) lb. V. xiv., p. .526. Near Dundee, on the lands of Balgay, similar dwellings have been
found under ground. lb. v. viii., p. 207. Such a structure has also been found in Alyth parish. lb.
V. vi., p. 406. In Bendothy parish there have been found similar structures of a larger size, with
rafters of wood, which were covered with earth. lb. v. xix.. p. 359. On the moor of Kildi-ummie,
in Aberdeenshire, such subterraneous structures have also been found. lb. v. xviii., p. 420;
Oordiner's Antiq., p. 15. Similar buildings have been discovered in several parts of Kirkcudbiight
Stewartry. lb. v. xvii., p. 120. In the district of Applecross in Ross-shire, such structures have been
found. lb. V. iii., p. 409. Such buildings have been discovered in Kildonan parish, in Sutherland.
lb. V. iii., p. 409. Similar structures have been found under gi-ound, in Shapinsay parish in Orkney :
and in them was found a gold ring of very uncommon construction. lb. v. xvii., p. 237-8. On the
estate of Baits, in the parish of Alvie, in Inverness-shire, such a building sixty feet long has been dis-
covered, lb. V. xiii., p. 382-3.
(m) Martin's Western Isles, p. 154 ; Pennant's Tour, v. iii., p. 223-4.
(n) Stat. Ace, V. vii., p. 489. The circumstance of the Well seems to evince that this building waa
rather a place of concealment than of sepulture.
Vol. I. 0
98 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
are several natural caves, which have been rendered more commodious by arti-
ficial means, for the purpose of secret habitation (o). On the coast of Skye, in
the parish of Portree, there are several caves of very large extent, of which idle
tradition relates many fabulous stories (p). In the isle of Arran there are several
laro-e caves which appear to have been the necessitous retreats of the ancient
inhabitants during the rude policy of early ages. One of those at Drunian-
duin, is noted in the fond tradition of the country as the lodging of Fin mac-
Coul, the Fingal of Ossian, during his residence in Arran. There are in this
favoured isle other caves of great dimensions, which are also attended by their
appropriate fictions {q). In the parish of Roxburgh, there are several caves
which have been formed in the face of a rocky precipice which is washed by
the river Teviot (r). In Ancrum parish, on the river Ale, there are several
caves wherein there are fire places and vents for the smoke (s). On the shores
of the Solway Frith, in the parish of Borgue, at the bottom of some remarkable
clifts, there are some curious natural caves, one whereof has been assisted by
art (0. In the parish of East Monkland there is an artificial cave which has
been scooped out of a bold rocky eminence, on the river Calder, in a seques-
tered spot (m). On the north bank of the same river, in the parish of Both well,
there is, in the face of a steep rock, a cave which has been improved by art, and
is capable of sheltering fifty men : it is difficult of access, and the entrance was
guarded by an iron gate, which was fixed dming modern times in the solid
rock {v). Such, then, were the sad expedients to which a rude people were
(o) Stat. Accc, V. iii., p. 378.
{p) Stat. Acoo., V. xvi., p. 146-7 ; Martin's Western Isles, p. 151 ; King's Munimenta Antiq., x. i., p.
60. Similar to tlie great Cave in Skye, wliich is said to be capacious enough to contain five hundred
persons, is the Giant's Cave near Penrith. Geut, Mag. 1791, p. 990.
((/) Martin's Western Isles, p. 219; Pennant's Toxir, v. iii. p. 181-2; Stat. Aceo. v. ix. p. 167:
by this account the Cave of Fin mac-coul is called the King's Cave and is said to have had the
honour of giving shelter to the illustrious Bruce, with the patriot companions of his perilous efforts,
for his country's independence. The well known Caves of Hawthomden have also furnished com-
modious retreats to similar patriots, who risked their all for their country and to religious bigots, who
hazarded much for their faith in more recent times. See Stukeley's Itin. Curiosum for a description
and plan of the Oaves at Hawthomden ; Mait. Hist, of Edin., p. 505 ; Grose's Antiq., v. i., p. 54-5 ;
Pennant's Tour, v. ii., p. 253 ; Stat Acco., v. x., p. 284-5.
(r) Stat. Acco., v. six,, p. 136 : Several of those caves are of lai'ge dimensions,
(s) lb. V. X., p. 294 ; and see lb. v. xiii., p. 273 for a singular cave in Kirkpatrick-Fleming.
Within a sequestered glen in the parish of Moffat there are two caves which have been cut out of
a freestone rock, and are capable of holding several men : they are at present used as farm houses.
lb. V. ii., p. 288. (t) lb. v. xi., p. 41. (m) lb. v. vii., p. 280
(i') Stat. Acco., V. xvi., p. 325 : The fire-place and floor of this remarkable cave still remain.
Ch. U.--The Tribes, their Antiquities.} OrNORTH-BEITAIN. . 9D
obliged to recur for safety, before society had collected men into regular tribes,
and it had become the duty of government to protect the few by the efforts of
the many.
The next objects of rational curiosity to the strengths and hiding places of
the British tribes are their weapons. Several of these have been already men-
tioned, as they were occasionally found in the graves of the warriors who had
once made an appropriate use of them. These weapons are of different kinds,
axes or hatchets, and arrow heads. The hatchets which have been most
frequently found, both in North and South-Britain, are generally of flint, and
are usually called celts, though antiquai'ies have been unable to explain the
meaning of the name. Yet the Jli7it habchets that have occasioned so much
discussion among learned men were called celts, from the nature of the material
whereof they were made ; the cellt of the British speech literally signifying & flint
stone (a). These axes, or celts as they have been called, even when they were
made of brass or other metals, have been discovered in both North and South-
Britain, and they were often formed of brass and of other materials of a simi-
lar kind as well as of flint. Several of these brass hatchets have been found
in the British barrows on Salisbury Plain (b). The places where these hatchets
had so long reposed with the original owners, and were at length discovered,
attest that they were British weapons. These brass hatchets, as they have been
also found within the British barrows in North-Britain, must equally be
deemed the curious weapons of the Caledonian Britons (c). Several arrow
heads which had been made of sharp-pointed flint have been found withm
various graves in North-Britain, as we have already seen (d). Such arrow
(a) Owen's Diet. These Celts have been found in various places and of different sizes all over
South-Britain. Dug. Warwick., p. 778 ; Stukeley's Itin. Curiosum, p. 54 ; Plot's Staffordshu-e,
p. 397 ; Hutch. Cumberland, p. 13-14 ; Whit. Manchester, 8vo. ed., v. i., p. 19, 20—22.
Those curious Celts, which even appear on British coins, have also been discovered in every part of
North-Britain. Gordon's Itin. Septen., p. 172 ; Sibbald's Hist. Enquir., p. 51 ; Companion to
the Map of Tweeddale, p. 34 ; Acco. Antiq. Scot., p. 55—92 ; and part ii., p. 46—122 ; Stat.
Acco., V. iv., p. 479 ; lb. v. iii., p. 56 ; lb. vol. v., p. 85 ; lb. v. x., p. 186 ; lb. v. x\-ii., p. 159 ;
Tire's Hist, of Eutherglen, p. 149, pi. 1.
(h) Stukeley's Stonehenge, p. 46 ; Gibson's Camden, 1263 ; Whit. Manch., 8vo. edition,
V. i., p. 17—19.
(c) Stat. Acco., V. vii., p. 251 ; lb. p. 60 ; lb. v. viii., p. 305 ; lb. v. x., p. 56 ; lb. v. xviii.,
p. 117. Sibbald says, "that several swords, heads of spears, and small darts made of brass,
have been found in several places of Scotland." Hist. Enquir., p. 51. There is a delineation of
some brass axes, which were found in Scotland, in Gordon's Itin. Septent., pi. 50.
('/) Stat. Acco. of Lauder, v. i., p. 78. In the parish of Benholm, Kincardineshire, on the
side of a hill, where tradition says a battle was fought in ancient times, there have been found a
number of flint arrow heads, and in the same vicinity a quantity of human bones. lb. v. xv.. p. 238.
02
100 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
heads of ilint have been found in the isle of Skye (e). To these arrow heads of
flint, superstition has given the name of elf-shots, from a supposition that they
are shot by elfs or fairies at cattle. The common people derive many of the
disorders of then- cattle from the elf-shots, and superstition also directs the cure.
The afflicted beast must be touched by the elf-shot, or must be made to drink
the water wherein the elf-shot has been dipped (/).
The armouries of the Britons were generally furnished with helmets, shields,
and chariots, and with spears, daggers, swords, battle-axes, and bows (g). The
helmet and the chariot were confined to the chiefs, and the common men
fought always on foot, provided with shields for their defence, and with spears,
swords, daggers, bows, and battle-axes for ofiending the enemy (h). These
accoutrements have been mostly all found in the graves of the warrior, or have
been seen during recent times on the Gaelic soldiers in fight. The Caledo-
nian chariots encountered Agricola's legions at the foot of the Grampian mount.
And they only wanted union and discipline to have enabled a gallant j^eople
with such armour to repel their invading foe.
Connected with theh armour ai'e their vessels, either for the enterprizes of
war, or the accommodation of peace ; and these consisted of canoes and of cur-
rachs. The first consisted of a single tree, which they hollowed with fire, in
the manner of the American Indians ; and m the mode of the same Indians it
was put into motion by a paddle : canoes of this sort have been discovered,
where indeed they were to have been expected, in lakes and in marshes, both
in South and in North Biitain (?'). In the gi-eat Locher-moss, in the loch of
Cax"Hng-wark, in Loch-winnoch, and in the winding Carron, the canoes of
the first people have been found {h). How early the Britons improved their art
(«) Acco. Antiq. Soc. Scotland, p. 55, and part ii., p. 46 — 122 Similar aiTOw heads have been
found in the parish of Logierait. Stat. Acco., vol v., p. 85. In the parish of Penn-y-cuiek, near
Brunstone Castle, has been found an arrow head of flint, ragged on the edges and barbed. lb. v. x.,
p. 425. Similar arrow heads have been foimd in South-Britain. Stukeiey's Abury, 33 ; Thoresby's
Leeds, 493-4 ; Whitaker's Manchester, 8vo. edition, v. i., p. 25.
(/) Pennant's Tour in Scotland, v. i., p. 101.
(jr) Whitaker's Manchester, 4to edition, v. i., p. 13 — 16, wherein is a delineation of British battle-
axes. (A) lb.
(J.) Eight British canoes were found in Merton-mere in Lancashire. King's Munimenta Antiq., v. i.,
p. 29 ; Hutch. Cumberland, v. i., p. 12.
(JS) In Locher-moss near Dumfries, an extensive tract of swampy ground, through which runs
the Locher, there have been discovered several canoes ; one of these Pennant examined and found to
be eight feet eight inches long, the cavity in the inside being six feet seven inches in length : it was
Ch. n. — Tlie Tribes, their Antiquities.'] OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 101
of shipbuilding cannot easily be ascertained. Before the age of Julius Csesar
they had certainly enlarged then- canoes into currachs. Caesar describes the
currachs as being accommodated with keels and masts of the lightest wood ; as
having then- bodies of wicker, which was covered over with leather, as
he had learned from the Britons, and knew from his practice in Spain. Lucan
calls the British currachs little ships, and m these, he adds, the Britons were
wont to navigate the ocean il). In such currachs, according to Solinus {m), it
was common to pass between Ireland and Britain. Adamnan, in his life of St.
Columba, describes one of those currachs with all the parts of a ship, with sails
and oars, and with a capacity for passengers ; and he adds, that in this roomy
currach St. Cormac sailed into the North Sea, where he remained during fourteen,
days in perfect safety («). We have thus seen what were the British vessels,
both for the occupations of peace and the adventm-es of war, and what were
the currachs wherein the Scoto-Irish made incursions from their woody isle into
Romanized Britain during the age of Claudian, when the Scottish rowers made
the sea foam with their hostile oars (o).
Such, then, were the Caledonian Britons ; such the topographical position of
the several tribes ; and such were their antiquities at the memorable epoch of
Agricola's invasion of North-Britain. This country was, at that critical period,
two feet broad, and eleven inches deep ; and at one end tliere were tlie remains of tliree pegs for
the paddles ; and it appeared to have been hollowed by the action of fire, in the manner of the
American Indians. In the same morass another canoe was dug up, which was seven feet long,
and dilated to a considerable breadth at one end ; an iron grapple or anchor was discovered with one
of these canoes ; and paddles, and oars, and other similar antiquities have been found in Locher-
moss, which is ten miles long and more than two niUes broad. Pennant's Tour, v. iii., p. 93-4 ;
Stat. Acco., V. i., p. 60 ; vol. v., p. 37. In Carhng-wark-Loch, in Ku-kcudbright stewartry,
there were found, when it was drained, several canoes which appear to have been hollowed in the
manner of the American Indians. lb. v. viii., p. 306. In Loch-winnoch, in Eenfrewshii-e, there
have been discovered several canoes, which appear to have been formed in a rude manner out of
single trees, like the American canoes. lb. v. xv., p. 68. The greatest of all the canoes which
were thus discovered in North-Britain was that which was found in 1726, near the influx of the
Can-on into the Forth, and was buried fifteen feet in the south bank of the Forth ; it was thirty-
six feet long, four feet broad in the middle, four feet four inches deep, four inches thick in the
sides ; and it was all of one piece of solid oak, sharp at the stem and broad at the stem. This canoe
was finely polished, being perfectly smooth within and without. The wood was of an extraordinary
hardness, and had not one knot in the whole block. Eeliquise Galeanse, p. 241-2 ; Hutch. Cumber.,
V. i., p. 12.
(0 Caesar de Bel. Gal., 1. iii. ; De Bel. Civ., 1. i. Lucan, 1. iv. (m) Ch. 35.
(ft) Stillingfleet's Orig. Brit, pref., p. Isi.
(o) That celebrated poet flourished in the fourth century under Theodosius and his sons.
102 An ACCOUNT [Bookl— The Roman Period,
undoubtedly rude ; it was strong by nature, and its various hills were forti-
fied with great discrimination, and by a singular sort of untutored policy. The
people, who were constitutionally brave, had been long occupied with domestic
war. Their arms were sufficiently powerful for enabling intrepid men to resist
intruders of less skill and courage and experience than the Roman legions.
And above all, though the Northern Britons were disunited by principle and
habit, they were actuated by a strong sense ot national independence, which
prompted their vigorous spirits to defend their land, their religion, and their
women with obstinate resolution against unprovoked invaders.
Oh. m. — Agricolas Campaigns.'] Op NORTH-BRITAIN. 10^
CHAP, m.
Of Agricolas Campaigns.
WE have now surveyed the region, and seen the people whom Agricola
was destined to defeat rather than subdue, after a braver struggle than his
foresight could have easily supposed ; but their country was strong from
nature, and the mountain tops were all fortified by art, as we know from the
remains, and as we have already perceived from research. One hundred and
thirty-five years had elapsed since the Komans, under the conduct of J. Caesar,
first invaded the southern shores of our island ; and the disappointments of that
great commander discouraged the repetition of such expeditions for upwards
of a century. The invasion and conquest of Britain were at length under-
taken by some of the ablest officers of Rome. But, opposed by the strength
of the island and the bravery of the people, their success was not equal to their
expectations and their efibrts. In this alternate state of hope and disappoint-
ment Agricola assumed the government of a country, wherein he had learned
the art of war under the most experienced commanders.
It was in the year 78 of our common ei'a that Agricola undertook his com-
mand in Britain, by displaying his address as a statesman, and evincing his
skill as a soldier. In the memorable year 79, by the exercise of both those
qualities, he appears to have been chiefly employed in subduing and civiliz-
ing Lancashire. After all those necessary measures of precaution, he set out
at the age of forty, in the year 80, from Mancunium, the Manchester of the
pi'esent times, to penetrate into the north, along the western coast (a). Un-
known nations were now discovered by the perseverance of the Roman troops ;
(a) The late Dr. Robertson has mistakingly fixed this date in A.D. 81. But the critical Tillemont
in his Ilistoire des Eiiqnreurs, torn, ii., p. 32 — 39 ; the intelligent Horsley in his Romana, p. 46 ;
the learned Whi taker in his Hist. Manch., 8vo. ed., v. i, p. 43, all concur In proving that Agricola
assumed the command of Britain in 78, and entered North-Britain in 80. In this manner, by search-
ing out certainties, may be satisfactorily settled the fancied uncertainties of the ancient history of
North-Britain. That Agricola entered North-Britain by marching along the west coast, and not the
east, is equally certain. See Horsley's Romana, p. 43.
104 An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The Bomaii Period,
and they are said to have pushed their ravages in this third campaign as far
as the Tau (6).
.In his fourth campaign, during the year 81, Agricola, if we may beUeve
Tacitus, explored and overran the mountainous region extending from the Sol-
way to the friths of Cluyd and Forth, which flow so far into the country as to
leave only a narrow isthmus to be fortified. Much skill and labour and time
were employed in trying to eft'ectuate the difficult enterprize of removing " the
remaining enemies, as it were, into another island (c)."
Yet much remained to be done before the power of the Caledonians could be
efiectually broken, and the Roman conquests could be sufficiently secured. In
his fifth campaign, during the year 82, Agricola, meditating further conquests,
thought it prudent as an officer to inspect the country and to subdue the tribes
who, on his marching beyond the Forth, would have been, from their western
positions, in his rearward. With those views he invaded " that part of Bri-
tain which is opposite to Ireland," the whole extent of Galloway (d). As
he resolved to carry on his operations both by land and sea, he probably sailed
from Kilbride-loch in Cumberland, and landed in the country of the Selgovse,
within the loch near Brow at the Locher-mouth, which here forms a natural
(b) Tacitus, wh.o wrote the life of Agricola at the end of seventeen years after the events
■which he relates, as he affected brevity, has left much obscurity to be cleared and some contra-
dictions to be reconciled. It is incredible that the Eoman legionaries, who were so vigorously
opposed during their sixth campaign in the very strong country which lies between the Forth
and the Tay, could have crossed so many waters and mountains, subdued so many strengths, and
penetrated to the river, which is so well known at present by the name of Tay. It is certain,
however, amid so much uncertainty that the word Tau signified any thing spread out, any ex-
tended water, an estuary in the language of those Britons who accompanied Agricola into the
North. Comparing this circumstance with the context, it will appear sufficiently obvious that the
Romans carried their ravages in their third campaign to the Solway Frith, which answers re-
markably to the plain meaning of the British Tau ; as Tacitus indeed informs us : " Vastatis
" usque ad Taum (aestuajio nomen est) rationibus." If the distance from Manchester to the
Solway be attended to, if the strength of the intervening country be considered, it will appear
to military men to have been an exploit of sufficient celebrity to have carried his arms through
Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland to the Solway, in one summer's march, occupied,
as we are told' Agricola was, with securing the country as he proceeded, by fortifying his posts.
Agric. xxii. But they had strengths to conquer. The high and strong grounds which separate
South and North-Britain seem at all times within the period of history, to have formed the
boundaries of nations. In the age of Agricola, the Selgovse, the Gadeni, and the Ottadeni,
appear to have regarded those heights as their boundaries, that they were studious to strengthen
by art, if we may judge of their policy from the many hill-forts which may still be traced through-
out their countries, and which could not have been taken by the Roman armies without many
conflicts.
(c) Agric. xxiii. (d) Agric. xxiv.
Cli. III. — Afjricolas Campaupis.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 105
harbour. But he immediately found hi^ march obstructed by an impenetra-
ble wood and a vast marsh of many miles extent (e) : yet nothing could set
bounds to Roman skill and labour (/). And marching along the shore with
his left to the estuary of Locher, and leaving Caerlaverock also on his left, he
encamped against the Selgovse town, the Uxellum of Ptolomy, and the Ward-
law of Pennant [g), while he sent out detachments to open the woods and to
form such roads as the urgency of the war required. We here see for the
fii-st time a Roman camp directly opposed to a British hUl-fort. We shall
perceive this interesting fact more frequently as we proceed. And from the
frequency of this hostUe opposition of encampments against fortresses, we may
infer that the Roman invaders found much obstruction in their progress from
the British strengths. This post of Uxellum on the Wardlaw, seems to have
been retained by the Romans during the age of the Antonines while Ptolomy
flourished. Agricola, having removed every obstruction which arose either
from art or nature, probably passed the Nith near Dumfries, where he may
have been assisted by his ships, and where Roman remains have been found (li).
He now turned to the left, and marching in a south-west direction into Kirk-
gunzeon, left in his route traces of his operations, which may still be per-
ceived in the vestiges of the Roman camps within that district {i). A march
of five miles would have carried him thence to the Moat of Urr, on the west
margin of the river Urr, where there are the remains of a British hUl-fort, and
near it the vestiges of a Roman encampment {h). Another march of ten miles
(e) See the Locher-moss, in Crawford's map of Dumfries-shire.
(/) There is reason to believe that Agricola opened a passage through the whole extent of
that wood, the trees which were then cut down have been recently found five feet below the
moss, and a causeway that had been formed of trees on that occasion, probably, has also been dis-
covered six feet below the Locher-Moss. Several Eoman utensils have also been dug up in this moss.
Pennant's Tour, iii., p. 88 — 94 ; Stat. Account, v. i., p. 160.
{j) Tour, V. iii., p. 95, and Eichard's map, which shows the mistake of Eoy in placing Uxel-
lum at Castle-Over, in the upper end of Eskdale. The Wardlaw hill agrees well enough, though
it be not extremely high, with the British word TJchel, signifying a height. On the summit of Ward-
law hill there are the remains of a British hill-fort, of a circular form, which was surrounded by two
ditches. Id. On the south side of this ancient strength of the Selgovae, there are the remains of
a Eoman camp. From the Wardlaw-hill, which seems to have acquired a modem name, from its
recent use, there is a vast prospect of the Solway Frith, of the mouth of the Nith, and a long
extent of the Galloway hills. Id. King's Munimenta Antiq. v. i., p. 28 ; Stat. Account, v. vi.,
p. 31.
(//) Stat. Account, vo. v., p. 142. (0 lb. v. vii., p. 193.
{k) On the estate of Mr. Maxwell of Munshes, about a mile and a half south-west from TJrr-
Moat there were found lately several legionary spear heads, which appeared to be made of a verj'
Vol. I. P
1 00 A X A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
and a half in a south-west dh-ection, brought his army from the Urr into the
midst of several British forts on the west side of the Dee ; among these, nuiy
be traced the opposing remains of several Roman camps (I). On the farm of
Little Sypland there is a large British fort of a circular form, which is surround-
ed by a double rampart and fosse, and somewhat more than a mile south-
south-west fiom this ancient strength, near Whinny-Legate, there is a Roman
camp of a square foi'm, and from this about a mile and a half south-south-
west, there is another Roman camp of a similar kind, on the farm of Bombie ;
between these two Roman camps there is a large British strength of an oval
form near Mickle Sypland (m). From Bombie about three miles south-south-
west, near the old church of Dunrod, there is another Roman camp («) : and
in the intermediate country there were several British strengths which seem to
mark the track of Agricola's route. Such then were the military posts, both
of the invaders and defenders of the Selgovse country, which thus appears to
have been strongly defended on every side during the march of Agricola, which
brought him at length to the Caerhantorigum of Ptolomy, the Drummore-Castle
of modern maps.
hard kind of brass. Stat. Account, v. si., p. 70. Of tliis country the Romans remained long in pos-
session. In the same vicinity, at the Mill of Buittle, there were found some years ago three Eoman
silver coins : one of Tiberius, one of Adrian, and one of Commodus. Id. About thi'ee miles north-
north-east of Urr-Moat, on the lands of Glenarm, there was discovered in a cavern, on removing a
quantity of stones in a quarrj', a Eoman cinereal urn of a gravelly brown earth, six inches and a
quarter in diameter, and five inches and a quarter in height ; and it contained some black liquor like
tar. Other urns of the same kind were found along with it, but they were destroyed by the workmen.
Account of the Antiq. Society of Scotland, p. ii., p. 55. This cavern appears thus to have been a Roman
cemeterj'. In the year 1776 a piece of a Eoman sword of fine brass, and a round piu of the same
metal, were found in Garlochan-Cairn, on a hill in the lauds of Chapeleara, about four and a half miles
west-south-west from Glenarm. Id.
(/j In the course of this route there was dug out of the earth, near Gelston, a Eoman ui'n, which had
been nicely cai-ved, and was full of reddish coloured ashes. Stat. Account, v. viii., p. 305. In the
Carlingwark-loch there was raised from the bottom of the lake, in a mass of marl, a brass pitgio or
dagger, which was twenty-two inches long, and plated with gold. Id.
(?») Between the Eoman camps at Whinney-Legate and at Bombie there are three British
forts, — one large fortress and two smaller ones, which all derived much of their strength from
the eminences on which they were placed. Stat. Account of Kirkcudbright, v. si., p. 24,
by the intelligent Dr. Muter, and the map prefixed to his account, with Ainslie's map of
Kirkcudbright.
(«) A little more than half a mile west-south-west of this Eoman camp there is, on the summit of
an eminence, a large British hill-fort, which is called Drummore-Castle. About the same distance
north-east, on the farm of Milton, there is another British fort. There are also several other British
posts which strengthened several parts of this strong country. See the reverend Dr. Muter's Stat.
Account of Kirkcudbright, and Ainslie's map of this shire.
Cli. m.—Agrtcola's Campaigns.'] OfNOETH -BRITAIN. 107
The Caerbantorigum of the Egyptian geographer is placed by Eoy at Kirk-
cudbright town : it is fixed nearly on the same site by Richard. The prefix
Caer, in the name of this station, plainly intimates that there had been a British
fortress on its site, from which the name was borrowed, and to which was added,
as usual, a Latin termination. Among the many forts of the Selgovse in this
country, that which is now called Drummore castle, and is situated on an
eminence above Drummore, was the largest, the strongest, and the most im-
portant ; and from its position and structure it seems to have been calculated
for a permanent strength, where the Selgovge no doul)t had a town (a). As
there is in the vicinity of this ancient strength the remains of a Roman camp,
there can be little doubt whether this were the real position of the Caerbantori-
gum of Ptolomy and of Richard, which, as we learn from both, was possessed
by a Roman garrison during the reigns of the Antonines. The many remains
that may still be traced in the southern face of this great peninsula of Galloway,
and the absence of remains on its northern side, are circumstances which seem
to evince, with strong conviction, that Agricola entered the country from the
south of it, and not from the north, as is too often supposed.
The Romans, in order to invade the Novantes, must have crossed the Dee
to the westwai'd. Their country seems not to have been so strongly fortified ;
neither are there found in it many Roman remains (6). The only Roman position
which can now be traced among the Novantes is at Wliithorn, the Lucophibia
of Ptolomy, the Candida-Casa of Bede (c). From the paucity of remains
(a) This fortress is situated on an eminence above Drummore, and commands an extensive prospect
of tlie Solway frith and the country along the side of it. It is surrounded by a rampart and deep
fosse, that remain pretty entire ; near the base of the height whereon it stands there is a large well,
which is now built up with stones, and which had supplied the place with water.
(J)) A helmet of brass, which is supposed to be Boman, was found in a tumulus near the river Cree,
in Galloway. Gordon's Itin. Sept., p. 172. A Eoman securis of brass, five inches long, three inches
broad at the edge, and an inch broad at the opposite end, was found in the moss of Cree, which lies
in the direct route from the passage of this river to Whithorn. Account of the Society of Antiqua-
ries of Scot., p. 74. The head of a Eoman spear, which was made of brass, was also dug up in Wig-
tonshire ; it measured thii'teen and a half inches in length, and was encrusted with verdigris when
found. lb., p. 115.
{c) Within a mile of the town of Whithorn there are the remains of a Eoman camp which,
though much defaced, plainly evinces it to have been a Castra Stativa. Stat. Account of Whithorn,
by the Eev. Dr. Davidson, vol. xvi., p. 288. Other Eoman remains are said by the same intelligent
writer to have once existed in this neighbourhood where they cannot now be traced. lb., v. xvii.,
p. 594. Eoy, notwithstanding the hints of Eichard, was probably misled by Horsley to place Luco-
phibia at Wigton, rather than at Whithoni ; and Ainslie was so idle as to copy his error. There are
no Eoman remains at Wigton, The Lucophibia of Ptolom}', Camden himself knew not, indeed,
whore to seek.
P2
IDS A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
we may easily believe that Agricola did not pursue the Novantes into the re-
cesses of their coimtiy. It is much more probable, whatever Tacitus may inti-
mate, that the Roman general, retracing his steps to the eastward, forced his
doubtful way northward through the mountainous country, till he fell in with
the south-western soui'ces of the Clyde. His fleet, indeed, may have sailed
round the Novantian px'omontory, have taken some towns on the Glottan shore,
and may have met him in the commodious estuary of the kindred Clyde. In
this fifth campaign, however, he is said to have subdued several nations who
were till then unknown to the Roman oflicers (J).
In the summer of the sixth year of his command Agricola extended his views
to the countries which lay to the northward of the Forth. He dreaded a
general concert of the more remote tribes, who had hitherto been disunited by
their principles, and hostile to each other from their habits. He ordered his
fleet to survey the coast, and to sound the harbours. And he learned from
captives that their countrymen had been greatly alarmed at the sight of so
new an object on their shores, when they reflected that now they had no other
hopes of safety but in the efibrts of despair. With all those designs, and
knowing that his route by land would be unsafe from the vigilance and
strength of the enemy, Agricola set out from the foi'tified isthmus in the
(d) Agric. xxiv. The brevity of Agricola's biograplier lias again given rise 'to some contest
among antiquaries, with regard to tlie route by whicb the Eomans entered the country that is
opposite to Ireland. From the circumstance, which is emphatically mentioned by Tacitus, " that
Agricola crossed over in the first ship," it has been supposed by some that he crossed the frith of
Clyde, below Dunbarton, and invaded Kintyre, where Eoman footsteps have not yet been traced.
The fact is, that every part of the river Clyde, from Dunglas upwai'ds, was in those days fordable :
and this important fact is established by the well Imown ch'cumstance that the Eomans, when
the}' built the wall of Antonine, eight and fifty years afterwards, carried it as low down as
Dunglas, with design, plainly, to prevent the tribes fi-om fording the Clyde into the Eoman
province on the south-west. Horsley's Brit. Eomana, plate 176, number 1 ; Watt's MS. Eeport
on the Fords of the Clyde. It is to be infen-ed, from the context of Tacitus, that Agi-icola did not
command in person the Eoman detachments who fortified the Isthmus of Forth and Clyde,
during the year 81 : if he had been present, he could have conducted his army into the hostile
peninsula opposite to L-eland without crossing any river ; but that prudent commander probably
remained at some station on the south of the Tmi, whence he collected information and issued
his orders : and it was, therefore, the Solway frith which he ivas the Jirst to cross in a ship, in
order to subdue nations that were till then unknown. This exposition, by obviating all difficulties,
seems to reconcile Tacitus to himself, and to illustrate the real policy of Agricola, who was attended
by his fleet, as we learn from his biogi-apher. The Eoman remains, which may still be traced in Gal-
loway, confirm this reasoning, for they are found in the south, from the Solway to the Dee, and not in
the north, from the Dee to the Clyde.
Ch. m..—Arjnco!as Catiqjaigns.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIX. 109
summer of A. D. 83, on his expedition beyond the Forth (e). He was no doubt
induced by the previous knowledge of his naval commander to the most
commodious passage of a frith, the shores of which are in some places near
the Isthmus very marshy, and in others very steep. And turning to the
right he was probably directed by liis purpose, by the minute information of his
naval officers, and by the nature of the country, to the narrowest strait of the
Forth at Inchgarvey, where the frith is greatly contracted by the projecting
points of the opposite shores. He was here no doubt met by a part of his
fleet, which would speedily waft him over this contracted part of the frith to
the advancing point in Fife, which is now known by the appropriate name of
the Northferry (/).
Agricola was now arrived among the Horestii. In the meantime the Cale-
donian Britons commenced offensive operations from the higher country, by
attacking the strengths on the Isthmus, which Agricola had left behind him
without adequate defence. By thus daring to act offensively, they are said to
have inspired terror. The general was advised by those officers, who disguised
their timidity under the mask of prudence, to retreat from this hostile land by
recrossing the Forth, rather than be driven out by the force of the enemy.
But he was too firm to be moved by such insidious advice. And being in-
formed that the tribes intended to attack him on all sides in a country with
which he was unacquainted, he disposed his army into three divisions. He
(f) Agric. sxv. With all his brevity Tacitus has given many circumstances in respect to
Agi-icola's campaign of the year 83, which show distinctly the site of his operations : 1. The
country beyond the Furth was his great object ; 2. The roads were supposed to be rendered unsafe
by the enemy's army ; 3. He was induced, partly by this circumstance, to make use of the
assistance of his fleet, which he caused to survey the Forth, and which pushed on the war by land
and sea, — the cavah-y, infantry, and marines were frequently mixed together in the same camp.
4. From the combination of all those circumstances, which are distinctly stated by the son-in-law of
Agricola, it is apparent that the Eoman general crossed the Forth by means of his ships, which
had first explored the several shores ; and the additional intimation of the advice given to the general
by some officei-s, in consequence of an offensive attack of the enemy, " that he should retreat on this
"side the Forth," carries the strongest probability, arising from the previous circumstance, up to
undoubted certainty, that the Eoman army carried on their operations in Fife dmmg the year 83.
Add to all those circumstances that there are the remains of a strength near Dunearn hill, adjoining
to Bm-ntisland, which are to this day called Agricola s Camp. Stat. Account, v. ii., p. 429. This
intimation makes it probable that the Eoman fleet may have here found a harbom- while it ex-
plored the frith.
(/■) See Stobie's map of Perth and Ainslie's map of Fife for this inviting contraction of the frith.
Sir E. Sibbald, who had accurately surveyed Fife, fixes on the same ferry as the place where Agricola
must have passed the Forth.
110 An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
probably marched towards Caruock, a little to the left at no great distance,
where there are still to be traced two military stations which, in the names of
two farms, are still known by the significant appellations of East Camp and
West Camp (g). Unacquainted as the general was with the countiy, he pushed
forward the ninth legion, which was weak from former engagements, to
Loch- Ore, about two miles southward from Loch-Leven, with two ranges of
hills in front, the Cleish range on their left, and Binnarty hill on their right.
At this position the Romans pitched their camp, the remains of which are still
apparent to the eager eyes of antiquaries (h). In the meantime one of the three
divisions of Agricola's army may have defiled to the right, and with the marines
from the fleet may have encamped near Dunearn hill ({). During the night the
Horestii made a vigorous attack on the Roman entrenchments at Loch-Ore.
They were already within the camp, when Agricola, being informed of their
march, hastened forward the lightest of his troops to attack the rear of the
assailants. A furious engagement was now maintained in the gates of the
((/) See Ainslie's Map of Fife, and the Stat. Account of the parish of Oarnock. v. si., p. 497.
Those camps are not seven miles from the shore of the Forth ; they stand on a pleasant bank, which
gives them an extensive prospect of the frith and the intervenient country. It is apparent, then, that
Agricola could, from this eminence, at once see and communicate with his fleet. Upon Car-neU.
hill, near Carnock, the Horestii appear to have had a strength, as we might learn from the prefix of
the name, the C'aer of the British signifying a fort. The Romans probably took this strength by
assault, as in 1774, upon opening some tumuU upon Carneil hill, several urns were found containing
many Eoman coins. Id. From Carnock, northward a mile and a half, the Horestii had another
strength on Craigluscar-hill, which the minister of Carnock supposed to have been a camp of the
Eomans. Id. The minister of Dumfermline more truly calls this a Pictish camp. lb., v. siii., p.
453. From Carnock, three miles north-north-west, there is another British strength on the summit of
Saline hill. Stat. Account, v. siii., p. 453. And there was a similar camp of the Britons at no great
distance below. lb., v. x., p. 312. These several fortresses of the Horestii were no doubt taken by the
legions of Agricola in the campaign of 83 a.d.
(/() This camp is situated on the north side of Loch-Ore, less than half a mile south-west from
Loch-Ore house, in the parish of Ballingry, in Fife. Its form is nearly square. In some places it is
levelled and defaced, but on the north and west sides there still exist three rows of ditches and as
many ramparts of earth and stone. The total circumference of it is about 2020 feet. On the side
towards the loch there is a round turret, analogous to those at the Eoman camp on Burnswark hill.
Gordon's Itin., p. 36 ; Stat. Account, v. vii., p. 315 ; and Ainslie's map of Fife. Sibbald says, indeed,
that the ninth legion was attacked in the Eoman camp at Loch-Ore. Hist. Inquiries, p. 37. In a
moss near Portmoak there were dug up the heads of Roman lances and javehns, which were made of
fine hardened brass. lb. 38.
(i) This hill is only a mile distant from Burntisland, where there is the best harbour in the Forth,
and where the Eomans had a naval station till the late period of their departure. Sibbald's Rom.
Forts, p. 5-15 ; Stat. Account, v. ii., p. 424-6. On Duneam hill there was a British fort of great
strength, which soon yielded to the Eoman art. lb. 429.
Ch. m.—Agricokt'.'s Campaigns.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. lU
camp. But the Britons were repulsed, though not discouraged : they attributed
their repulse, not so much to the superior bravery of their adversaries, as to the
skill of the commander and the accidents of war. They magnanimously
resolved to defend the last defile of their country. They sent their wives and
children into places of safety (k), they armed their youth, and they ratified
the confederacy of the tribes, in their solemn assemblies by public sacrifices.
This is the first occasion on which we hear of the union of the Caledonian
tribes. We may judge of the pressure of the moment and the fortitude of the
clans, which could unite so many people whose ruling passion was indepen-
dence on each other.
The Romans on their part were elated with their victory ; they cried out
that no force could resist their valour, that now was the time to penetrate into
the recesses of Caledonia. Agricola resolved to gratify theh ardour, as it pro-*
moted his own designs ; and he immediately proceeded to subdue the Horestii,
who do not appear, m the pages of Tacitus, to have made much resistance after
that decisive blow. In these operations he spent the remainder of a.d. 83,
and the beginning of the subsequent year, he occupied in procuring information
of the enemy's motions (l).
Excited thus, and instructed, Agricola marched from Fife, the hostile land
of the Horestii, in the summer of 84, with an army equipped for expedition,
to which he added those Britons whom he had brought with him from the
south as useful auxiliaries. He in the mean time dispatched his fleet around
the coast with design to spread distraction. He was probably directed in his
route by the natural positions of the countiy, as it was shown to his intelligent
eyes by the course of the Devon ; he turned to the right from Glen-devon,
(k) In those times the British tribes had on every hill-top a fastness of considerable strength, as we
know from their remains.
(I) It is perfectly obvious, from the narrative of Tacitus, that Agricola passed the winter of
the year 83 in Fife, where he was readily supplied with provisions by his fleet, and whence he
easily coiTesponded with his garrisons on the southern side of the Forth. Besides the Eoman
works which have been noticed, there are the remains of others that may still be traced along the
frith. At Halyards also, in the parish of Tullybole, there is a Eoman encampment which would
merely hold a detachment. Stat. Account, v. xviii., p. 470. In the parish of Tillycoultry there
is said to have been a Eoman station on the north end of the Cuningar hill. lb., v. xv., p. 214.
There appears to have been an advanced camp at Ardargie, the height of ivarriors, among the
Ochil hills above the river May ; and it is still remembered as a Eoman work. lb., v. iii., p. 309.
And see Stobie's map of Perth. Many circumstances with regard to this campaign seem to have
been unknown to Eo}^ who combats the opinion of Gordon, without denying his facts. See also Sir
E. Sibbald's Account of the Forts. Colonies, and Castles of the Eomans, between the Forth and Tay,
1711, throughout.
112 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
through the opening of the Ochil hills, along the course of the rivulet which
forms Glen-eagles, leaving the Braes of Ogilvie on his left. He now passed
between Blackford and Auchterarder towards the Grampian hill, which he saw
at a distance before him as he defiled from the Ochils {m). An easy march
soon caiTied him to the moor of Ardoch, and to the presence of the Cale-
donians, within the district of the Damnii. He found the Caledonians already
encamped at the Grampian mountain to the number of thirty thousand, under
the command of Galgacus, a general who appears to have merited the celebra-
tion of Tacitus. An obstinate battle ensued, which was at length decided in
favour of the Romans, not so much by great valour as by superior skill
and better weapons. Night put an end to a well fought engagement (o). The
{m) In the parish of Blackford there is a small camp on an eminence fronting Gleneagles,
about five miles east from Ardoch, Stat. Account, v. iii., p. 310, In Auchterarder parish, opposite
to it, there are some traces of encampments on the east of that village, at the foot of the Ochils :
a coin of the Emperor Vespasian was here found in digging the foundation of the church. Stat.
Account, V. iv., p. 44,
(o) The site of this famous battle has been sought for in vain by antiquaries. All that can
be done for the acquirement of certainty is to adjust circumstances. Having sent round his fleet
to spread terror, he marched with an army equipped for expedition, expedito exercitu ; and he
arrived without any obstruction that we hear of, as his route lay thi-ough the country of the
subdued Horestii, ad montem Grampium, the Gran-pen of the Britons, signifying in their language
the head or chief ridge, or ledge. As his fleet no longer co-operated with him, as he was lightly
equipped, he could not carry much supply of provision with him. From his scouts he probably
knew that the enemy were encamped at no great distance from him, a circumstance which the
text seems to suppose. As he marched through the pass of the Ochil hills, along the natural track
of the modern road, he saw the Grampian mountain, beyond the intervenient valley, before him ;
and he also saw the ground whereon he could conveniently encamp. He took his station at the
great camp which adjoins the fort of Ardoch, on the northward. See this interesting spot in
Eoy's Mil. Antiq., pi. 10; and Stobie's map of Perth. From this camp Agricola drew out his
army, as Tacitus infonns us, on the neighbouring moor, whereon Gordon saw a vast large ditch,
■which might be traced for above two miles. The Caledonians came down from the declivity of the
Grampian, which begins to rise from the north-western border of the moor. " On the hill above
"the moor," says Gordon, "are two great heaps of stones: the one called Carnivochel, the other
" Camlee : in the former the quantity of stones exceeds belief ; and I found, by mensuration, the
"whole heap to be about 182 feet in length, .30 in sloping height, and 45 in breadth at the
"bottom." Itin. Septen., p. 42. These two cairns are the British monuments of the Caledonians
who fell in this celebrated conflict. Every circumstance concurs to evince that this moor was the
bloody scene where so many Caledonians perished for their country's freedom. Here there was
room enough for the combatants, who were not so many as Tacitus states : there was not a district
in North-Britain during that age which co\ild have fed 30,000 persons for one day. It is not easy
to tell how Agricola could have found supplies for his army, if it had been less in numbers than is
generally supposed from the intimations of Tacitus. The camp is allowed by competent judges
Ch. in.—Aijricola's Campaigns.'] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 113
Caledonian Biitons retired to the most distant recesses of their impervious
country. Agricola led his army back to the confines of the Horestii, on the
track of his former route. And having taken hostages fi-om them, he slowly
conducted his troops through the conquered tribes into winter quarters on
the south of the friths, perhaps on the south of the Tyne and Solway. He,
meanwhile, ordered the commander of the Roman navy, who probably met him
in the Forth, to sail round the island on a voyage of discovery, and with the
•design of intimidation. This voyage was happily accomplished, by the return
of the fleet ad portum Trutulenseni or Richborough before the approach of
winter, when it returned to the Forth. With these remarkable events ended
the campaigns of Agricola in North-Britain.
The news of those exploits, however modestly stated, gave apparent joy to
the Emperor Domitian ; but inspired him, at the same time, with real envy.
And Agricola was recalled ft-om Britain in the year 85, under the pretence
of promotion, which was rather declined by that great officer than seriously
•to have been sufficient for such an army, whatever may have been its numbers. The vast caii'ns
are British monuments of some great conflict here : the name of Victoria, which the Romans after-
• wards gave to their station on the Ruchel, near Comrie, in this vicinity, is a significant memorial
of their decisive victory. Gordon was so idle as to place the site of the battle at the station of
Victoria. Pennant was so ill informed as to confute Gordon's position upon mistaken principles ;
and Pennant supposed that the scene of action must be near the sea, where the fleet could
co-operate ; but the plan of the campaign only admitted of general co-operation. If the Roman
fleet came into the Tay, it performed all which was expected from it ; and Agricola, at the close
of the campaign, communicated with his fleet either in the Tay or in the Forth. Pennant had
attended so little to the intimations of Tacitus, as to suppose that the attack on the ninth legion,
in the preceding year, was at the station of Victoria. Tour, 1772, p. 96 ; but we have already
seen that the whole operations of the preceding campaign were in Fife. There is no evidence that
Agricola ever reached the Tay : the Tan of Tacitus was the Solway frith of modern maps. Mait-
land, who was the first antiquary who traced Roman roads and Roman camps beyond the Tay,
was also the first who pointed to Urie hill as the appropriate site of the battle of ^fons Grampius.
In his loose conjectures he was copied by Lord Buchan. And Roy followed both, who, in giving an
account of the campaigns of Agricola, is always supposing what cannot be allowed and what he
cannot prove. There is a thread of sophistry which, as it nins through the reasonings of all those
writers on this point, it is time to cut for the sake of tnith. They presume that Agi-icola was the
only Roman officer who made roads or constructed camps in North-Britain, and that Lollius Urbicus
and the Emperor Severus never appeared on that arduous theatre of war. It has indeed been
suggested to me by a friend, the late Colonel Shand of the artillery, for whose opinion I have a
great respect, that the camp at the Findochs in the parish of Monzie, on the Amon river in Perth-
shire, is very likely to have been the site of the battle of the Grampian. Stat. Account, v. xv.,
p. 256-7. But the weight of circumstantial evidence appears to my deliberate judgment to be far
stronger in favour of the moor of Ardoch, which contains many more interesting remains, both British
and Roman.
Vol. I. Q
114 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
offered by his unfeeling master. Agricola died, probably from the effects of
chagrin, on the 23d of August 93, celebrated by his friends and lamented by
his countrymen, whose grief attests his worth. The silence of history, which
intimates that there were no events to record during five and thirty years
after the recall of Agricola, evinces the wisdom of his measures as a statesman,
and shews the extent of his victories as a general (p ).
(^) The foregoing sketcli of the campaigns of Agricola was drawn up from lais life by Tacitus.
Considerable assistance was derived also from the learned notes of the elaborate TiUemont.
Histoire, 2d torn. 475-6. Truth obliges me to notice the mistakes of Horsley, Brit. Eomana, p.
39, 40. Most of the writers upon that period, by attributing every Eoman labour to Agricola,
have only obscured the splendour of his conduct. The late General Eoy has debased his curious
work on the Militarij Antiquities of the Romans in North-Britain, by ascribing every road and every
rampart, the vestiges whereof are stiU to be traced in that country, to Agricola, as if neither
Lollius Urbicus nor the Emperor Severas had led armies into the northern parts of Britain in
after times. I do not observe that any monumental stone has preserved the name of Agricola,
who is nevertheless recollected and admired without the aid of such perishable notices. The late
M. de la Eochette, who was a French engineer that had inspected the Eoman camps in Scotland,
observing the mistakes of Eoy, had prepai'ed materials for writing an account of Agricola's campaigns,
as Mr. Faden, the King's geographer, informs me. I endeavoured in vain to secure the papers of M,
de la Eochette before his death.
Ch.lV.— The Actions of L.Urbicus.] Op N OE T H -BEIT AIN. 115
CHAP. IV.
Of the Transactions of Lollius Urbicus.
WHEN Agricola was recalled by the envy of Domitian in the year 85,
victory had declared in favour of Roman discipline at the foot of the Gram-
pian mountains. The long silence of history shews, with sufficient clearness,
that the Caledonian Britons had felt the Roman hostility, and that they had
at length dreaded the Roman power (a). The British tiibes derived confidence,
during Adrian's war with the Jews, from the recall of some of the Roman
troops, with some of the best officers in the Roman armies (h). They were
provoked to turbulence by the misrule of propraetors. The Emperor Adrian,
who derived much of his celebrity from inspecting with a judicious eye every
part of the empire, came into Britain, corrected many abuses, and, in the
year 120, built a wall from the Tyne to the Solway ; a rampart which has,
in every age, been a monument of his power and a memorial of his circum-
spection (c). The antiquaries in their inattention have supposed that Adrian
meant by this work to rehnquish the large extent of country from his wall
to the northern friths. But their conjecture was made in opposition to the fact,
and is in itself inconsistent with probability. That several stations remained
on the north of the wall is a truth which we know from the discovery of
inscriptions; and his policy seems only to have intended to provide an additional
security for the more southern provinces against the insurrections of the
Ottadini, and Gadeni, and the ravages of the Selgovas and Novantes, who
having neither domestic tumult nor distant devastation to occuj^y them, were
(«) From the departm-e of Agricola in 85, for tUrty years the Eoman historians took scarcely any
notice of the affairs of Britain. Horsley supposes, from a loose expression of Tacitus, a querulous
historian, that the Eomans lost much of their conquests here during that period. Ohron. Sub. An.
86. But the silence of history conveys a quite contrary inference.
(i) Horsley's Brit. Eom., p. 49 ; Tillemont Hist. Des Emper., torn, ii., p. 287.
(c) Horsley, p. 50. Spartian is the ancient historian who is quoted for the facts. Scrip. Hist.
Aug., p. 51. And see Warbm-ton's Vallum Romaimm, with his map, which show, from an actual
survey, the track of Adiian's Vallum with Severus's wall.
Q2
116 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
neither restrained nor overawed by the stations of Agricola on the Isthmus
between the Clyde and Forth {i).
Antonine assumed the purple on the death of Adrian, the 10th of July
138, A.D. Among a thousand other good qualities the new emperor was
remarkable for appointing to the government of the Roman provinces the
fittest officers ; nor could he have chosen for the rule of Britain a more
proper officer than Lollius Urbicus, a man who possessed talents for peace as
well as a genius for war. His most early attention was drawn to the Bri-
gantes, who, having raised a revolt, were again reduced to order by him in
139, A.D. He marched northward in the subsequent year to the Friths,
and tranquilLzed the tribes beyond them. There is cause for believing that
this great officer carried his arms from the Forth to the Varar, and settled
stations in the intermediate country, throwing the whole of that extensive
country into the regular form of a Roman province. Antonine, in the mean-
time, witli the beneficent spirit of his chai'acter, extended the right of Roman
citizenship over the whole Roman empire (k). From this epoch, every inha-
bitaut of North-Britain who resided along the east coast, from the Tweed to
the Moray Frith, might have claimed, like St. Paul, every privilege which
peculiarly belonged to a Roman citizen. But the Caledonian tribes probably
paid little regard to such privileges, while thex'e remained among them indeli-
ble marks of subjection, which humbled their pride of independence, as well as
incited their hatred of submission.
Whatever may have been thought during the infancy of our archaeology,
there can be no doubt that the earthen rampart, the vast ditch, and the
military way which conjointly extend from Caer-riden on the Forth to Dun-
glas, and perhaps to Alcluid on the Clyde, were constructed duiing the reign
of Antoninus Pius, under the orders of Lollius Urbicus, his lieutenant {I).
(0 Horsley's Brit. Eom.. 241-2 ; Whit. Mauchest., 8vo ed., p. 259-60, wlio settles the point
with his usual acuteness and ability ; and Hoisley, p. 51. The finding of a succession of coins and
medals belonging to the intermediate Emperors at the northern stations, is also a strong proof that
the Eoman soldiers remained in them during the period of that succession. Wood's Hist, of the
Parish of Cramond, p. 4, 5.
(k) Ulpian Digest. Tit., De Statu Hominum.
(Z) Capitulinus, -who flourished during the third century, was the fli-st who intimated that
Antoninus Pius had built a wall in Britain. Eichard, who wrote from classical informations,
specifies the wall of Antonine to have extended from the Forth to the Clyde. And Bede, who
appears to have possessed local knowledge, mentions the actual commencement and termination of
Antoniue's wall. Tet Buchanan did not live long enough to be acquainted with those curious
truths. It was the discovery of one inscription which enabled Camden to have a single
Oh. IV.— The Actions ofL. UrUcus.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 117
The second legion, detachments from the sixth and twentieth legions, with
some auxiliaries, are recorded in monumental stone to have performed those
military works, which are equally demonstrative of their skill and creditable
to their perseverance (m). The length of their labours, from old Kirkpatrick
on the Clyde to Caerriden on the Forth, is thirty-nine thousand, seven hun-
dred and twenty-six Roman paces, which agree nearly with the modern
measui'ement of thirty-six English miles and six himdred and twenty yards («).
glimpse of the fact. The successive discoveries of many monumental stones, by digging up the foun-
dation of the wall, have shown to all intelligent men the whole circumstances of the time when that
singular fence was made, and by whom. Those stones may be considered as so many records. The
University of Glasgow, by engraving the gi'eat collection of stone monuments which have been
deposited in their library, and which often mention the titles of Antoninus, and once the name of
LoUius Urbicus, have liberally furnished exemplifications of those records. I owe to that learned body
my acknowledgments for the favour of a copy of those exemplifications. Timothy Pont first had the
learned curiosity to inspect the remains of Antonine's wall during the age of Camden. See Extracts
from his Survey of this Praetentura in Gibson's Camden, 1695, p. 9.58-9, Sir Eobert Sibbald
followed his example at the distance of a centm'y. Gordon, the tourist, made a personal survey of
the same work about the year 1725. Horsley soon followed his track of inquiry and mensuration,
but with a more vigorous spirit and more careful steps. And Boy, a professed engineer, with as much
curiosity as either, and more science than both of them, made similar inquiries and mensurations in
1755, when the remains were unfortunately more faint. Owing to aU those inquiries, the Prcetentura
of Antoninus Pius has ceased to be an object of antiquarian research, and now engages merely
historical attention. Whoever wishes to know eveiy particular with regard to objects which are
altogether worthy of a rational curiosity, must read Horsley's Britannia Roniana, 1. i. ch. x.. and
study Eoy's Militaiij Antiquities, § 3. From their curious informations it will appear that this
Pratentura consisted of a vast ditch on the outward, which was generally about twenty feet deep
and forty feet wide, and which there is some cause for believing might have been filled with water
as occasion required ; 2dly, of a rampart- within the ditch, which was upwards of twenty feet high
and four-and-twenty feet thick, composed of earth on a stone foundation, and this ditch and
rampart were strengthened at both the extremities and throughout its whole extent by one-and-twenty
forts, there being one station at each extremity of it, and one at the end of every two miles nearly ;
3dly, of a military road which, as a necessary appendage, coursed within the rampart from end
to end, for the necessary use of the Roman troops, and the usual communication between so many
stations.
{in) Horsley's Brit. Romana, 1. i. ch. x.
(ji) Eoy's Military Antiquities, p. 164. It heroin appears, also, that the mean distance from
station to station of the nineteen forts along the course of the wall is 3554^ yards, or something
more than two English miles. Horsley, as above, had pointed out this cui-ious intimation before
him, and has acutely shown that the stations on the wall were designedly placed on the pre-
vious fortifications of Agricola. Horsley has also remarked a cmious fact, which tends to support
the reasonings iu the text, that the fortified stations on Antonine's wall were placed more nearly to
each other than the mihtary posts on Severus's wall. There are nineteen stations along the course of
Antonine's Pratentura, exclusive of the fortified posts at Caer-riden, and at Dunglas, a mile and three
118 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
This rampart, this vast ditch, and this mlHtary road, which accompanied both
in the rearward, were constructed in the year 140, along the course of the
stations which had been estabhshed in A..D, 81 by the judicious pohcy of
Agricola (o). At Dunglas near the western extremity of this memorable
fence, the Romans found a conunodious harbour for their shipping, such as
they likewise may have possessed at Blackness near the eastern extremity of
the same strength, and such as they certainly enjoyed while they remained in
Britain at Cramond (p).
In the popular language of the country the wall of Antonine is called
Grime' s-Dijhe. Roy was so idle as to adopt from Gordon, the tourist, the
quarters beyond Old Kilpatrick. The military road went on to Dunglas, and may have proceeded
even to Alcluid : the obvious reason for carrj'ing the Prcetentura so low down on the Frith was plainly_
to cover the fords of the Clyde. At Old Kilpatrick, where the modern opinions place the western
termination of the wall, the Clyde was quite shallow throughout its whole breadth, which is about a
quai-ter of a mile. Pennant's Tour, v. iii., p. 140. Lower down, between Dunglas and Dunbai-ton,
there was the ford of Dunibuok stretching across the rivei', which, when it was sui-veyed by Mr. Watt
in 1769, "had only two feet depth of ivater at ebb tide, and this shoal had only three feet depth of
water, for an extent of six hundred yards up and down the Clyde, at this place." MS. Eeport. The
state of the liver was not probably much different dui'ing the fii'st century, and this circumstance
must have dictated to the Eoman officers the policy of covering those fords where the Caledonian
people might have easily passed into Valentia. From these considerations, it is appai-ent that they
must have carried their posts and their military road to Dunbarton, the Thcodosia of Eichard.
Bede and Nennius seem to have given the Eoman Prcetentura this full extent. Camden concurred
in this by placing the wall between Abercorn and Dunbarton. Brit. ed. 1586, p, 481. But from
their several ages the remains were continuallj' disappearing before the eye of curiosity. Neverthe-
less, sufficient remained to enable the intelligent Dr. Irvine, who was appointed historiogi'apher
royal in 1686, to trace the several forts very distinctly. Sir Eobert Sibbald, in giving his account
of this wall, says : " The west part of it, from Dunbarton to Falkirk, was accurately traced by
Dr. Iivine, who told me he had several times travelled alongst it. The forts he observed upon
the track of it, as I fowid them in his papers, are these, with the distances of each set down :
(1) At Dunbarton a great fort ; (2) the castle, half a mile from it ; (3) a mile thence, at the
foot of Dumbuck hill, a fort; (4) a mile thence, at Dunglas, a fort; (5) a mile thence to
Chapel hill above the town of Kilpatrick, a fort;" and so he proceeds with other nineteen forts
along the course of this Prcetentura, which has since been sur^-eyed by Gordon, Horsley,
and Eoy. Eoman Antiq., p. 28-9. The great defect of all these, in reasoning about the
extent of the wall of Antonine, seems to be that they did not attend to the ancient shallowness
of the Clyde, and to the great object of the Eoman poUoy. The Eoman fleet, says Pennant,
probably had its station under Dunbarton, where there is sufficient depth of water, and the place
was convenient and secure : the water beyond [above] is impassable for any vessels of large burden.
Tour, v. iii., p. 141.
(o) Horsley Eom. 52 : and see his plate, Scotland, N xxv., for an inscription showing that Antonine's
wall was constructed in a.d. 140.
{p) Eoy's Mil. Antiq., p. 164.
Ch. IV.— The Actions of L. Urbicus.] OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 119
tradition of Grime and his Scots breaking through the wall, and so credu-
lous as to suppose " that from this circumstance it might possibly have the
"name of Grimes-Dyke (g)." It has not yet been proved that such a person
ever existed, whatever such fablers as Fordun, Boece, and Buchanan may
assert. The fact is that there are several works of the same kind m Encfland
which bear the name of Grimes-Dyke (r). This significant appellation was
undoubtedly imposed by the British people, who were long restrained in
their courses by its opposing strength. In their speech, and in the Welsh
language of the present day, Grym signifies strength ; and hence, by a little
deflexion, Grym came to signify any strength (s). The fact, then, and the
etymology concur to explode for ever the historical fiiction which has passed
into popular story, and which speaks of Grime and his followers as having
once been real characters, and as having, in some age, broke through the strong-
dyke of Antoninus Pius. The Roman territories in Britain had been now
carried to their largest extent, and the Boman power to its greatest height :
they had conducted Iters from the rampart of Severus to the wall of Antonine,
and from this fence to the Ptoroton of Richard, the Burgh-head of Moray ;
they had formed roads throughout the extent of country ; they had established
stations in the most commanding places within the districts of Valentia and
Vespasiana ; and it may be of use, at this epoch, to investigate with some
attention, those several objects which are so interesting to a rational inquiry as
well as so demonstrative of the Roman art.
As the wall of Antonine was obviously intended to overawe the tribes who
hved within it, as well as to repel the wild people who ranged beyond its im-
mediate scope ; with the same policy iters were settled, roads were constructed,
and stations were fixed, to command the Caledonian clans throughout the
{q) Eoy's Mil. Antiq., 161.
(?•) As to the appellation of Grimes-dike, says Warton, or the ditch made by magic, it is common to
other works of the same sort, and indiscriminately applied to ancient trenches, roads, and boundaries,
whether British, Roman, Saxon, or Danish. He then gives five examples of different places, which are
called Grimsdic, Grhaesdike, Grimmesdic, and Grimesditch. Warton's Kiddington, p. 54-6. There is
also a Grimesditch in Bucklow hundred, Cheshire. See Horsley's Romana, p. 173, which seems to
relinquish all hope of being able to explain the origin of the name of Grime' s-dylce ; and see what
Hearne says in his edition of Neivhridije, v. iii., p. 756-60, with regard to the proper name being
Gi-ume's ditch ; Grumoe, or Gromse, he says, were boundaries of provinces, but the intimation of Hearne
is too refined for the occasion.
(s) Davies, in voce Grym ; Grijme in Cornish signifies strong. Borlase. Grim, in the Gaelic means
war. battle. Shaw's Diet. It is curious to remark that Timothy Pont points pretty plainly to this
natural derivation of this well known but mistaken name. Blaeu's Atlas Scotiee, p. 87.
120 An ACCOUNT [Book I— The Roman Period.
Roman territories. Soon after the erection of the wall of Antonine three iters
appear to have traversed the provinces of Valentia and Vespasiana. The ninth
iter of Eichard extended from CarKsle to the northern wall, near Camelon,
and from this strong fence to Ptoroton (t). The intelligent monk thus places
his four stages, from Carlisle to the wall, from Lugnballium to Trimontium,
from Trimontium to Gadanica, the Colama of Ptolomy, from Gadanica to
Coria, the Coria Damniorum of Ptolomy, and from Coria to the wall, with-
out being able, however, to assign the distance of any one of his journies (u).
Bichard's fii-st stage, as we have seen, is from Luguballium to Trimontium.
Setting out from Carlisle, along the track of the Roman road through Annan-
dale, about twenty-three statute miles would carry the Roman armies to the
station of Trimontium on Burrenswark-hill (x). From Carlisle, the Roman
armies were naturally carried along Annandale on the eastern side of the
Annan past Moffat, where there were some large Roman encampments, at
(t) Eicliard supposes, from the documents before Mm, that the distance from Carlisle to the wall was
eighty miles ; but the fact does not warrant his supposition. The shortest distance between his extreme
points is ninety statute miles.
(«) The Gadanica of Eichard's 9th iter is evidently a mistake, for Colanica, which is plainly the
name in his own map, and is the Colama of Ptolomy's table, a town of the Damnii.
(a:) A thousand circumstances &s. the Trimontium on Burrenswarkhill the Selgovse town, before
Agricola placed a commanding garrison near the site of this British fortress. This remarkable hill
is situated between the rivers Mein and Milk, on the east side of Annandale, and is exactly in the
position which the Trimontium occupies in Eichard's map. It was the site of the most important
fortxess, and also of the most eastern town of the Selgovse. This hill commands a very extensive
prospect of the surrounding country, comprehending Dumfriesshire, the east part of Galloway,
nearly all Cumberland, and even part of Westmorland. As it was also seen from afar, it seems to
have early attracted the notice of the Eomans, who appear to have set a high value on its com-
manding powers. The area on the summit of this hill was surrounded in prior times with a
stone rampart, the remains whereof are still apparent, and evince that the rampart had been con-
structed vrithout mortar; and within this area there also appear some vestiges of buildings for
the purpose of residence or shelter, which are similar to those in the British hill-forts on Carby
hiU in Eoxburghshire, Caterthun in Forfarshire, and in many others. There also remain on this
hill some other vestiges of the British people ; particularly on the east side there are the remains
of a line of oircumvallation, which appears to have surrounded the hill at some distance below
from the circuitous trench on its summit. On the sides of this hill the Eomans constructed two dif-
ferent camps ; one on the south side, which is an irregular oblong three hundred yards long and two
hundred yards broad, having three gates, one in each end, and one in the south side ; the other
camp, on the north side of the hiU, is an irregular oblong three hundi-ed yards long and one
hundred yards broad, having two gates, one in each side. Both these camps are suiTOunded by two
ramparts, having a fosse between them ; and they are connected by a large rampart of stone and
€arth, which runs round the end of the hill. See Gordon's Itin., p. 16, pi. I. ; Pennant's Tour, v. iii..
Ch. lY.—T/ie A dims of L. Urbicits.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 121
the distance of nineteen statute miles, from Burrenswark-hill {y). The Iter must
now, in its course north-eastward, have ascended Erickstane-hrae ; and passing
this ridge that separates Annandale from Clydesdale, it must have fallen in
with the sources of the Clyde ; and descending a little lower, it must have ar-
rived at a Roman post at Little Clyde, upon the track of the Roman road (s).
This Roman post is ahout one-and-thirty miles from Burrenswark-hill. And
it is more than probable that this was the site of Gadanica, in the ninth Iter,
the Colanica of Richard's map, and the Colania of Ptolomy, a town of the
Damnii, which both concur in placing on the south-eastern corner of their
extensive ten-itories. From this post, which corresponds so exactly with the
Damnian town on Little Clyde, the Iter must have proceeded in a north-east
direction, along the south-east side of Clydesdale to the remarkable turn which
the Clyde makes op]josite to Biggar : from this position it would naturally
proceed in a northerly course along the eastern side of the river to Caer-stairs,
the Coria of the Iter, another town of the Damnii, which is four-and-twenty
p. 91 ; Transact, of the Antiq. Soc. of Scotland, v. i., p. 125 ; and Eoy's Mil. Antiq., p. 72,
pi. svi. and xxv. The Roman station on Burrenswark-hill must not be confounded with the station
which is nearly two miles and a half southward from it on the north side of Mein-Water,
and which, as it is near the hamlet of Burrens, is frequently called by that name. See Eoy's
pi. xxv. In order to suit a favourite but mistaken etymology, General Eoy has, in opposition to
Ptolomy and Eichard, and in hostility to the Selgovae, carried away the Trimontium from its true
site, where the ninth Iter calls for it, into the distant track of a different Iter. Stukeley, without
much consideration, guessed Canoby to be the Trimontium of the ninth Iter ; but this position is
much too near Luguballium, and is moreover out of the route of Eichard's Itinerary and design.
Of this station Horsley says : " Trimontium, according to Ptolomy, is not far from the estuaiy
" of Ituna or Solway-Frith. I think," he adds, " the situation brings us near to Annan,
" or perhaps to Burrenswark or Middleby, which I take to be the Baltum Buhjium of the
" Itinerary." Brit. Eom., p. 377. Maitland, amidst many mistakes, in the Eoman topography
of North-Britain, comes very near to the time position of Trimontium by placing it on the Eoman
station at Middleby, which, as we have seen, is little more than two miles south of BuiTenswark-hill.
Hist Scot., V. i., p. 142.
{y) Stat. Acco., v. ii., p. 288. But it is pretty certain that neither of those camps were the
station of Ptolomy's Colania or Eichard's Gadanica. Camden, who had not the help of Eichard,
placed Colania at Coldingham on the east coast, sixty miles from the undoubted track of the ninth
Iter. Maitland still more absurdly placed it at Cramond on the Forth, which is at least seventy
miles from Trimontium. Stukeley idly placed Colania, at Colechester or Peebles, but there is no such
place here as Colechester, and Peebles is almost fifty miles from Bun-enswark-hill without the range
of the Iter.
(i) Eoy, 104. The minister of Crawford parish, wherein is this Eoman post, mentions indeed the
remains of three camps which he considers as Eoman. Stat. Acco., v. iv., p. 514. But the fact is
that only one of these is a Eoman fort, as its square form attests ; the other two are British strengths,
as their round forms and positions on the summits of heights demonstrate.
Vol. I. E
122 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
miles from the Colania, on Little Clyde (a). At this place is the Roman station
of Castle-dykes, which, with many Roman remains in its vicinity, attest that here
had been many transactions of that enterprizing people (6). Horsley fancifully
places Coria at Kii'kurd, in Peebles-shire ; Maitland, who did not live to see
Richard, absurdly supposes Coria to be near Stirling ; Stukeley conjecturally
places Coria at Crossford, below Lanark, out of the track of the Iter ; and
Roy, who had Richard before him, most mistakingly carries this Iter, which
we have thus traced through Annandale and Clydesdale, past Hawick and
the Eldon-hills, to Currie on the Gore-water. (Several of our acutest anti-
quaries have confounded Coria, a town of the Damnii, with Curia, a town of
the Gadeni. From Coria this Iter proceeded ad vallum to Falkirk, says
Stukeley. From Caer-stairs northward to Camelon, without the wall, is the
distance of two-and-twenty miles. Whether this Iter went along the vale of
Mous-water, past Cleugh to Whitburn, and thence northward to the wall, or
went by a more westerly course past Shots, the distance is nearly two-and-
twenty miles to the opening of the wall at Camelon, the Roman mart (66).
We have now traced the course of the ninth Iter of Richard from Carlisle to
the wall, and have also ascertained the several towns which are called for by
it, and which have been so strangely confounded and misplaced by the ablest
antiquaries. It is at length proper to trace with equal precision the fifth Iter
of the same instructive monk, which went southward by the eastern route,
throughout the whole extent of Valentia, before we pass the wall into Vespasiana.
The fifth Iter of Richard, which proceeded from the eastern extremity of
Antonine's wall to the south, is much more certain, though Stukeley has only
(rt) The coincidences of the course of this Iter, of the distance and of the name, concur to
ascertain the Coria of the Iter and Caer-stairs of the maps to be the same. In marching from
Biggar, about three miles past Carnwath, the Roman troops would arrive at the entrance of a
small glen or nan-ow vale, which is called Cleugh, from the Saxon Clovcjh, a glen, that is the same
in sense as the Celtic Coire ; and the Coire in a thousand instances is applied in the North-British
topography to glens of a similar description, and appears in many names of places in the form of
Carrie ; before the Saxon people settled in this district we may easily suppose that this Cleugh was
called, in the language of the Celtic inhabitants, Coire or Corrie, the Coria of Ptolomy and of
Eichard.
(i) In the coui'se of this Iter, between those stations there were several smaU Eoman posts : there
was one between Catchapel and Little Gill, several miles from Little Clyde ; there was another post
below, on the western side of Culter-water, opposite to Nisbet ; and there was a third post lower down
at the tuni of the Clyde opposite to Biggar.
(hb) Sir B. Sibbald, who wrote from the papers of Timothy Pont, in speaking of the Eoman road
through Clydesdale says, '' the people have a tradition that another Roman street went from Lanark to
" the Eoman Colony near Falkirk." Eom. Antiq., p. 39. By the lioman Colony we are to under-
stand the Eoman port at Camelon, to which the tide once flowed and vessels navigated.
Ch. lY. —The Actions of L. Urbicus.'} Of N ORTH -BEIT AIN. l->3
obscured by his conjectures what he proposed to clear by his research. Richard
conducts this Iter, a limite Praceturiam, to Curia ; thence ad Fines; and thence to
Bremenium ; without being able to assign the distances of his several stages.
If the Roman troops set out from the eastern end of the wall, nine-and-twenty
Roman miles would have conducted them to Currie, on the Gore-water; the Curia
of the Iter, where there was undoubtedly a Roman station, and whei-e several
remains have been found. His next stage ad Fines would have reached the
Eldon-hills, at the end of two-and-twenty miles (c). And another stage of
thirty miles would have conducted them to Bremenium, which is undoubtedly
Roe-chester in Reedsdale, on the borders of Northumbei'land.
Beyond the wall of Antonine, an Iter with its accompanying stations tra-
versed the whole extent of Vespasiana, from the wall to the Varar. This is
merely the continuance of the ninth Iter of Richard, when he enters Ves-
pasiana, and ends at Ptoroton. His first stage extended twelve miles, from
the wall to Alauna on the Allan river, near its junction with the Forth, as the
coincidences of the name and of the distance attest. From Alauna the Iter
went forward along Strathallan nine miles to the Lindum of the Itinerary,
the well-known station at Ardoch, as the course and distance evince. From
Lindum, the celebrated scene of many conflicts, the Iter passed throughout a
course of nine miles to the Victoria of the Itinerary, the proud monument of
Agricola's victory at the Grampian, the Dalginross of the tourists, at the
western extremity of Strathern, eight miles out of the direct course of the
Roman road. The Iter now pursued its course in an easterly direction nine
miles to Hierna, the station on the Earn at Strageth, as every coincidence at-
tests, whatever Stukeley supposed. The next stage of the Iter is the central
Orrea on the Tay, at the distance of fourteen itinerary miles. From Orrea
the Iter went ad Tavum nineteen miles, and thence ad Esicam, twenty-three
miles. If we set out from Orrea in an easterly direction through the passage
of the Sidlaw-hills, and along the Carse of Gowrie, nineteen miles would carry
us to the northern side of the estuary of Tay, near Dundee, which is certainly
the ad Tavum of the Iter {d). If from this last station we proceed in a north-
(c) Stukeley, by an odd mistake, reads ad Tines, and so fixed the station at the Tine, as Whitaker
observes ; and, as he adds, this station must have been on the limits of the Gadenian and Ottadinian
territories, and must have been somewhere on the banks of the Tweed in Tweeddale. Hist. Manch.,
V. ii., p. 346. This station was no doubt at the Eldon-hills, where there were a Eoman camp and a
British strength.
(rf) In the course of this route, at the distance of two miles west from Dundee, and half a mile
north from Invergowiie, on the estuary of the Tay, there are the remains of a Eoman camp, which
Maitland says are about two hundred yards square, fortified with a high rampart and a spacious ditch.
Hist. Scot., V. i., p. 215 ; and see also the Stat. Acco. of Liff, v. xiii., p. 115.
124 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
north-east direction, through the natural opening of the country, we shall at
the distance of eleven miles fall In with the well known Roman camp of Hare-
faulds ; and at the end of three and twenty miles nearly, we shall arrive on
the South Esk at Brechin, the ad Esicam of the Iter {a). This route exactly
agrees with the names and distances in the Iter, and \vith the track delineated
on Richard's map (6). Setting out from the South Esk at Brechin, and pro-
ceedmg in a north-north-east direction, the natural course of the Itinerary would
ai'rive at the end of five miles and three quarters on the North Esk, the Tina
of Richard (c). Having passed this river at the Kmg's ford, the Roman troops
would naturall}^ march straight forward through the valley of Luther- water about
eight and a half miles to the station of Fordon, where there are the remains of
two Roman camps ; and thence by Urie-hill, where there is the well known
(a) Stukeley placed the station ad y^sicam by conjecture at Brechin.
(b) In tracing the Koman route forward from Orrea, General Eoy departs from his usual guide ;
Richard had shewn him the right track, but his desire of novelty forced him into a wrong one. Roy
carries the Iter from Orrea to Burghtay [Broughty] castle, four miles east from Dundee, which he supposes
to be the ad Taviim, and states it to be eighteen English miles from Orrea ; the fact, however, is that
the real distance from Orrea to Burghtay castle is twenty-three miles, which extent is four beyond
the Itinerary distance ; and moreover, as their object was to get through the country northward, they
would naturally file off in that direction from Dundee through the open country towards the
South Esk at Brechin. Going beyond Dundee to Burghtay castle would have been going four
miles out of their way without any apparent object. From Burghtay castle he carries the Iter
along the coast to the river South Esk at Montrose, which he supposes to be the ad Esicam of his
guide, and from this he can'ies on his route three and a half miles to the river North Esk, which
Ife equally conjectui'es to be the ad Tinam of Richard : yet this deviation is quite irreconcilable
with the distance in the Iter of eight miles from ad Esicam to ad Tinam. From North Esk
Roy carries the Iter along the coa~st to old Aberdeen, his supposed Devana, and he states the
distance to be twenty-five English miles, though the real distance is in fact not less than thirty-
three miles, and the Itinerary distance from ad Tinam to ad Devana is only twenty-three miles.
For these great deviations from the distances in the Iter, the object of their route, and from the
track pointed out on Richard's map, not one good reason is assigned. Both in this and the track
of the Iter north of the Devana, General Roy has erred in carrying their route round the coast
in place of through the interior of the country. It is apparent that the hostile policy of the
Romans did not induce them either to place stations or carry roads along the shore of the German
sea.
(c) Richard in this stage must be over-ruled by the fact : the distance between the two Esks does
not extend to eight miles, without diverging from the straight course, so far as to make up two and a
quarter miles. The Roman name of Tina, or the British appellation of Tine, which, like the other
Tines, signified in that language a river, the same as Avon, could not apply to any other river than
the North Esk, because there did not exist any other river nearly in that site. The station ad Tinam
may indeed have been a little beyond the river Tine, from which, having recently passed it, the
Romans would naturally borrow the name. It is a very curious fact that the North Esh was called by
the British name of Tine dm-ing the Roman period.
^
<
Ch. II.— The Actions of L. Urhicus.'] OpNOBTH-BEITAIN. 126
camp of Raedikes ; and going thence in a northerly direction about six English
miles would carry the Roman troops to the river Dee at Peter-Cidter, the
Devana of Ptolomy and of Richard. This position is thirty-one miles from the
South Esk at Brechin, and this distance exactly agrees with the number of
miles in the Iter, being ad Tinani eig-ht miles, and ad Devanam twenty-three
miles. This route corresponds with the devious track which is delineated on
Richard's useful map. At the termination of the Itinerary distance on the
north side of the Dee, west from the church of Mary-Culter, and south-west
from the church of Peter-Culter, there are the remams of extensive entrench-
ments, which are of a rectangular form, that indicate the site of a camp, and
are usually called in popular tradition the Norman dikes (d). The agreement
of the distance with that of the Iter, the correspondence of the name of the
Deva or Dee with the Devana of Richard, and the undoubted remains of
the large encampment on the northern margin of the river, on a high ground
of moderate elevation opposite to several fords in the Dee, which the camp
was designed to cover, all these coincidences concur to fix the station of De-
vana on this commodious site, in opposition to the conjecture of Stukeley, and
to the mistake of Roy (e).
(d) This camp appears to have been of a rectangular figure, extending from the east-north-east to
west-80uth-\vest. The rampart and ditch on the northern side are about three quarters of a mile
long, and remain pretty entire. From each end of this work a rampart and ditch ran off at right
angles, and foi-med the ends of the camp, a few hundi-ed yards whereof onlj' remain ; the whole of the
southern side is destroyed. Colonel Shand, who was intimately acquainted with the field fortifica-
tion of the Eomans on the north of the friths, and to whom we owe the discovery of the Eoman
camp at Glen-mailen, examined the Norman dikes in February, 1801, and he informed ma "that the
profiles and other dimensions of the ditch and rampart appeared to be the same as those of the camps
at Glen-mailen and Urie, at Battledikes and other camps in Strathmore." The Stat. Account of
Peter-Culter, v. xvi., p. 380, confirms these relations, though the minister attributes this camp
either to the Danes or to William the Norman when he warred with Malcolm Ceanmore. This
camp has been since more minutely inspected by more skilful men, — by Mr. Irvine of Drum,
Captain Henderson of the 29th Eegiment, and Mr. Professor Stewart of Aberdeen, who agree in thinking
the Norman dikes to be a Eoman work. This camp has lately been surveyed by Captain Henderson,
who has obligingly furnished me with an accurate plan of this curious remain. The camp of
Normandikes is delineated by him as of an oblong rectangular form, 938 yards long and 543 yards
bi-oad, comprehending an area of 80 Scottish acres, being nearly of the same size as the camp of
Eaedikes on the Ithan, the next stage in the Iter. It has two gates in each side, like the camps of
Battledikes and Harefaulds, and at Urie, and one gate in each of the ends, which appear from this
delineation to have been each covered by a traverse in the Eoman manner. See Captain Henderson s
Delineation of the Camp of Noi-mandikes.
(«) In respect to the station of Devana, antiquaries have been divided in theii- opinions between
126 AnACCOUNT [Book L—The Roman Period.
It is as curious as it is instructive to remark how different the course of
Richard's ninth Iter is from the track of the Roman road through Angus,
from Orrea. We have seen the Iter go, from the common departure at Orrea,
in an easterly direction, through the Sidlaw hiUs to Dundee, the supposed
station ad Tavum, and thence proceed nearly in a north-north-east direction
to the South Esk at Brechin. The Roman road went from Orrea, in a north-
east course, along the east side of the Tay and Isla, past Coupar- Angus, Reedie,
Battledikes, and across the moor of Brechin to the camp of Wai'dikes at
Keithoc. This contrariety naturally suggests what is probable, from the tenor
of history, that the ninth Iter, as recorded by Richard, was established previous
to the formation of the road, which is two miles shorter than the Iter, and
even previous perhaps, to the settling of the camps on the line of the road, at
Grassywalls, Coupar, Battledikes, and Keithoc. It is apparent, then, that the
ninth and tenth Iters of Richai'd must have been made in the early part of the
administration of Urbicus, and before the middle of the second age {/). And
these intimations equally evince that none of the Roman camps, the I'emains
whereof exhibit their sites on the north of the Tay, were formed by Agricola
in the prior century.
In pursuing their object northward from the Dee at Peter-Culter to the
Moray-frith at Burgh-head, the Romans penetrated through the obvious open-
ing of a rough country by the right of Achlea, Fiddy, and Kinmundy, and
thence passing forward in a north-north-west direction, through a rather plain
district, till they arrived at the site of Kintore on the Don, whence they would
the Wo towns of Aberdeen, and Aberdon, without reflecting that the object of their searches might
have existed on a much more convenient site than either. We have seen above how many coin-
cidences attest the real position of Devana to be at Normandikes on the Dee. But no castrensian
remains have hitherto been found at either of those towns which would remove doubts or establish
certainties on this curious point ; we leani indeed from Gordon the tourist " that in a place
called the Silver bum, near Aberdeen, a great quantity of Eoman medals was discovered, many
of which I saw in the hands of some curious gentlemen." Itin., Sept., p. 186. Those coins may
undoubtedly have been di-opped here by the Romans during some of their excursions, but that
fact, without other circumstances more pregnant with proof, cannot ascertain the existence of a
station which we have now found more commodiously placed at the fords of the Dee than at its Aber
or issue.
(/) The learned Whitaker, after investigating this point with his usual acuteness, has decided " that
the Itinerary of Richard was compiled as early as the middle of the second century, in a period when
the Roman empire among us was in its greatest glory, and at its farthest extent." History of Manch.
V. i., p. 88. The facts which have now been ascertained confirm his decision ; yet the Itinerary was
obviously settled at some epoch subsequent to the construction of Antonine's wall in 140 a.d., which
is more than once called for by the Itinerary.
Ch. IV.— The Actions of L. Urhicus.] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 127
follow the strath of the river, according to their practice, to the bend of the
Don, where they found a ford at the same place where the high road has
always passed the same river to Inver-urie ; they soon after passed the Urie ;
and they now pushed on, in a north-north-west course, through a moorish
district, to the sources of the Ithan, the Ituna of Richard, where the camp of
Glen-mailen was placed, an extended course of twenty-six statute miles between
those itinerary stations {g). The next station of the Itinerary is mons Grampius,
but neither the course nor the distance is specified, though the mountain is
supposed by Richard to be what it appears to the eye of mariners from
shipboard, at no great distance from the sea. Proceeding from Glen-mailen
northward, and crossmg the Doveran at Achengoul, where there may still be
seen considerable remains of military works, thirteen statute miles would carry
the Roman troops to the high ground on the north of Foggy-lone, at the eastern
base of the Knoch-lilll, the real mons Grampius of Richard (/t). From this
((/) From Aberdon, or Old Aberdeen, General Eoy, supposing it to be the station of Devana, con-
ducts the ninth Iter of Eichard across the Don to the issue of the Ithan, which he supposes to be the
itinerary station ; but the Don appears never to have been fordable where the road must necessarily
have passed, and the distance from the Don to the Ithan, which is only eleven miles, by no means
coiTesponds with the itinerary distance of twenty-four miles. From the issue of the Ithan at New-
burgh General Roy carries the route along the coast to Peterhead thirty-three miles, and from
thence to Doveran. nineteen miles. But for this difference between the itinerary distance and the
fact, and for this deviation from probability and from the map of Eichard, neither proofs nor
authorities are given, nor have any Eoman remains been found in that part of Aberdeenshire
lying between the Ithan and the Doveran eastward to the sea which would justify those departures from
the truth. On the other hand, the station ad Itunam has been found, not at the issue, but at the
sources of the Ithan. This important station was discovered in 1786 by Colonel Shand, who
communicated his discovery first to the antiquarian society at Perth in 1788, and afterwards his
survey of it to General Eoy. The Eoman Camp, which the people of the country call the
i?ae-dykes, stands on the southern bank of the Ithan a mile below the two weU-known springs of
the river. There is in Eoy's Military Antiquities, pi. li., " a plan of the grounds in the parishes of
Forg, Auchterless, and Culsalmon, exhibiting the ancient camp of Eedykes, near GlenmaUen, on the
south bank of the Ithan." But this plan came too late to enable General Eoy to see that the camp at
Glenmailen was undoubtedly the station ad Itunam of Eichard, which, from its central situation,
commanded the ample extent of Aberdeenshii-e, the ancient country of the Taixali. There are other
remains in the vicinity of this camp which indicate the long residence there of a military people. The
camp at Glenmailen, as well as the camp at Urie, is called the ^«e-dykes, from the Gaelic Ra', signify-
ing a cleared spot, a fortress.
{h) The very intelhgent Colonel Shand informed me of the obvious remains of military works
at Achengoul. From the heights, indeed, near Glenmailen, the Eoman ofBcers could see dis-
tinctly the whole course of the Moray frith before them, and the intei-mediate country through
which they were to pass forward to their ultimate object at Ptoroton. From the high grounds
128 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
station the Itinerary goes forward ad Selinam, which is mistakingly supposed
by Stukeley to be the Doveran. Tiie distance from the mons Gixvmpius of the
Itinerary to the station ad Selinam is not mentioned by Richard, but we are
conducted, by the object of the Romans, by the coincidence of the name, and
by the discovery of coins, to the rivulet Cullen, near the old tower of Deskford,
at the end of ten statute miles (^). The next station is Tuessis, at the Itinerary
nortli of Foggylone may be seen Kinnaird's head and the whole of the noiih-east of Buchan,
which head juts out here into the German ocean, and from which the lofty summit of the Knock
hill is the first landmark that is seen by mai'iners as they approach the most eastern point of
North-Britain. Such were probably the cii'cumstanoes which led Richard to speak emphatically
of the promontory which mns out into the ocean towards Germany, though he wrote in contradiction
to his own map.
(?) The route probably lay from the height on the north of Foggylone round the north-
east base of the Knock hill near Ordiquhill, and from it to the rirulet of OuUen at Deskford, where
lloman coins were found some years ago near the old bridge, a little below the tower of Deskford.
The coins were given to the Earl of Findlater, the lord of the manor. We had, indeed, been pre-
viously informed by Gordon, Itin. Septent. 186, " that in the country of the Boyne several
Roman coins were dug up, twenty-seven whereof are preserved by the Earl of Findlater. Four
of them I perceived to be medals of Antoninus Pius, one of Faustina, one of Otho, whose
reverse had this legend, Victoria Othonis." Gordon was less lucky when he talked ignorantly
of "there being no vestiges of Roman encampments or Roman Remains beyond the Tay."
lb. 187. But Gordon published the result of his enquiries in 1726, when such objects had not
been so diligently sought for. The Rev. Mi'. Lawtie, the late minister of Fordyce, the great
antiquaiy of Banffshire, having minutely inspected the site of Deskford, cast his observations into
a memorial. The antiquarian eyes of Mr. Lawtie saw appeai-ances here of a Roman station, which
he conceived to have the form of an oblong square, along the west side of the rivulet Cullen,
comprehending ten acres, with the tower, the church and manse, and the village of Deskford.
In order to obtain more certainty, I caused the same interesting spot to be surveyed by the
ingenious Mi-. George Brown the land-surveyor, in November, 1799. To his more accurate eyes
the entrenchments appeared so indistinct that it was impossible to determine by what people or
ior what purpose they had been made. The discovery of Roman coins in this position seem to
render it probable that the Romans may have had some station here. There are, moreover, about
four hundred and fifty yards of an old paved road leading from the south-east directly up to this
supposed station. The antiquarian zeal of Mr. Lawtie pronounced this to be the remains of a
Roman road. The indifferent eyes of Mr. Brown saw nothing but a regular causeway over a deep
clay soil, which necessity may have caused to be made here in much more recent times. Colonel
Shand, the great discoverer of Roman camps, and the zealous explorer of Roman ways, inspected
this ancient pavement during the summer of 1801. He informed me that it is evidently very old,
and is certainly paved like the Roman roads, but is much broken at the sides, and it does not
proceed in a straight line like the Roman roads in Strathearn, with which he was very familiar.
But it may be observed that the Roman camps do not invariably describe a straight line or a
right angle where the ground does not admit of either, neither do the Roman roads always pursue
a straight course when they are pushed aside by the inequality of the natui-al site. Horsley's Brit,
Eomana, 1. i., ch. 2.
Ch. TV.— The Actions of L. Urbicns.} OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 129
distance of nineteen miles from the station ad Selinam. From Deskford, pur-
suing the course of the rivulet to Inver-Culen, and passing along the coast of the
Moi-ay frith seventeen statute miles, the Roman armies would be conducted
to the Roman post, which may still be seen on the high bank of the Spey, the
Tuessis of Ptolomy and of Richard, below the church of Bellie, and which
was obviously intended to cover the ford of this rapid river {Jc). This station
was placed without any authority at Rothes, higher on the Spey, by Stukeley,
and still more absurdly at Nairn by Horsley.
On the eastern bank of the Spey, with the Moray frith at no great distance
to the right, the Romans were now only one day's march from the Alata-Castra
of Ptolomy, the Ptoroton of Richard, the Burgh-head of Ainslie, at the mouth
of the Estuary of Varar. The distance from the Tuessis to Ptoroton is not
specified by Richard ; but a day's mai'ch of seventeen Roman miles would
have enabled the Roman troops to reach the Ptoroton, though they would in
(k) " The remains of tlie Eoman encampment," says Colonel Imrie, wlio examined it in January,
1799, " is situated about half a mile nortli-east of the ruins of the kirk of Bellie, on a bank over-
" looking the low fluviated ground of the river. It is upon a flat sui'face, and has been in form
" nearly a rectangular parallelogram of 888 feet by 333, but the west side and the greatest part
" of the north end of the parallelogram are now wanting. I say nearly a rectangular parallelo-
" gram, as a small though perceptible deviation from the straight line exists in the vallum and
" ditch of its eastern side. As deviations of this kind are not frequently found in Eoman field
'•■ fortification where there is no obvious necessity, this deviation may be considered as an objection
" to the camp at Bellie, when it is said to be a Eoman remain ; but from having examined with
" much attention the remaining vallum and ditch of this camp, it is my decided opinion that
" this has been the work of a Eoman army. It appears to me that the vallum and ditch of this
" camp are nearly of the same size and depth as those of the camp at Battledykes in the county of
" Forfar ; and if I might be permitted to form a judgment from the present appearance of the
" works, I should say that, according to my opinion, these works were formed nearly about the
" same period, and certainly by people who followed the same general rules with regard to their
" field fortifications." Thus much from the intelligent Colonel Imrie in his obhging letter to me.
The same ford on the Spey which enabled the Eomans to connect their stations in the north
dm-ing the second centuiy, also facilitated the passage of the Duke of Cumberland in April, 1746,
when he pressed forward to Culloden in order to decide the fate of the GaeUc descendants of the
ancient race. At Upper Dalachie, near the Eoman station, there remained inviolate till 1794, a
sepulchral tumulus, which is popularlj' called the Green Cairn, and which contained the ashes of
some Eoman chief. About two feet from the surface was found, when it was broken up, an urn of
rude workmanship, which, when the ashes of the dead were shaken out, disclosed a piece of polished
gold like the handle of a vase, three inches in diameter, and more than one eighth of an inch thick.
It appeared to have been the handle of a vase. As the society of antiquaries at Edinburgh declined
to purchase this curiosity, the finder sold it for bullion at the price of thirteen guineas. The fore-
going intimations were received from Mi-. James Hoy of Gordon Castle, in his letters to me, dated the
22nd December, 1798, and the 6th April, 1799.
Vol. L S
130 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
those days have been obliged to make a circuit for avoiding the waters which
formed the ultimate station almost into a commodious islet. Horsley and
Stukeley concur in fixing the Ptoroton of the Itinerary at Inverness, sup-
posing the distance to be twenty-seven miles from Tuessis, instead of forty-
seven statute miles (Z). The distance, as there was no intermediate station,
will not permit such an inference to be drawn from such dubious premises.
Other antiquaries have tried, with as little felicity of conjecture, to fix this
station where the ninth Iter ends and the tenth begins, at Nairn ; but as this
improbable position is distant at least one and thirty statute miles from Tuessis,
the distance alone is sufficient to refute such an improbability, though Roman
coins have indeed been found at Nairn. The situation of the Burgh-head,
at the mouth of the Varar, where Richard had placed it ; the remams which
show its vast strength from the skiU and labour of ancient times ; the coin-
cidence of the distance from Tuessis to Ptoroton, and from Ptoroton to Varis ;
all concur to fix unalterably the ultimate station of Richard at Burgh-head (»i).
(/) Taylor and Skinner's Road Book, pi. 32.
(m) See Roy's Milit. Antiq., p. 131, pi. 33, 34. I caused the Burgh-head to be surveyed in
1792, by Mr. James Chapman, the land-sm-veyor, who described the whole site of this remarkable
station as follows : " The north and west sides of this promontory are steep rocks, which are
" washed by the sea, and rise about 60 feet above the level of the low water mark ; the area on
" the top of this height is 300 feet long on the east side, and 520 feet long on the west side ;
" it is 2G0 feet broad, and contains somewhat more than two acres English. It appears to have
" been sun-ounded with a strong rampart 20 feet high, which had been built with old planks
" cased with stone and lime ; the south and east sides axe pretty entii-e, but the north and west
" sides are much demolished. On the east side of this height, and about 45 feet below the summit,
" there is an area 650 feet long and 150 feet wide, containing upwards of three acres English.
" The space occupied by the ruins of the ramparts, which have fallen down, is not included in this
" measurement. It appears to have been surrounded with a very strong rampart of stone, which is
" now much demolished. On the south and land side of these two fortified areas, two deep ditches
" are carried across the neck of the promontory ; these ditches are at present from 16 to 20 feet
" deep, from 12 to 16 feet wide at the bottom, and from 40 to 50 feet wide at the top. The
" bottoms of the ditches are now 25 feet above the level of the sea at high water, and are con-
" siderably higlier than the extensive tract of the flat ground on the land side. The ditches,
" ramparts, rocks, and waste ground which surround the areas above described, contain upwards
" of five acres English. The contents of the whole peninsula, with the rampart of the outer ditch,
" are more than eleven acres English." The vast ditches and ramparts which anciently guarded
the entrance to this strength, are obviously the laborious works of Roman hands. The rampart,
which consisted of oak planks and of stone and lime, and which was subsequently erected for the
security of the upper area, was undoubtedly raised by the less skilful work of Danish rovers in the
middle ages. Till recent times the Burgh-head was called, in the common speech of the ancient
people, T(y;v/-town or Tery-town, which antiquarian ears have regarded as something similar in sound
to the Fivruton of Richard. Survey of Moray, 1798, p. 51.
5:
i
K
u
V
Ch. 111.— The Actions of L. Urbictis.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 131
The modern name is obviously derived from the Danish invaders, who reforti-
fied this commodious station during the middle ages.
From this remarkable strength, of which there can be no doubt that it is
the Ultima Ptoroton of Richard, we are now to proceed southward, according
to the tenth Iter of that curious collector, per mediam insulcB. The first station
is Varis, at the end of eight miles : from Burgh-head to Forres is, in fact,
eight statute miles. The coincidence of the name, of the distance, and of the
object, together with the discovery of Roman coins at this town, demonstrate
Forres to be the Varis of Richard (n). From that station to the Tuessis, the
same river Spey, which the Romans had crossed below at the ford of Bellie,
the Itinerary distance is eighteen miles ; the real distance to the lower ford at
Cromdale is nineteen statute miles. Tamea, at the Itinerary distance of twenty-
nine miles, is the next station from Tuessis. Proceeding southward along
Strathavon by Loch-Bulg to the junction of the Dee and Cluny, twenty-eight
statute miles would carry the Roman troops to the commodious ford in that
vicinity. Etymological torture could not derive Tamea from Mar, as Roy
wildly suggest ; but the misapprehension of foreign ears may have transformed
Tarn or Tame of the British topography into Tamea.
The silence of Richard with regard to the next station leaves us to suppose
that he was unacquainted both with its name and distance, but nine and a
half English miles would have carried the Roman troops from Tamea to the
height which separates the waters that flow in opposite du-ections to the
Dee and the Tay, and which consequently divides Aberdeen from Perthshire.
That learned monk is equally unacquainted with the name of the next station,
which he places at the end of one and twenty mQes, though the route un-
(n) Boy's Milit. Antiq., p. 132. In November, 1797, J. Brodie of Brodie, F.E.S., assured me
" that -when the streets of Forres were lately dug up in order to repair the pavement, there were
" discovered several Roman coins and a Roman medallion in soft metal, which resembled a
" mixture of lead and tin : this medallion he presented to the antiquarian society of Edinburgh."
The V and / were often changed in the names of places, as Mure/ for Murev ; and the Varar of
Bichard is now called Farar : so Varis is the same as Faris, which is the Gaelic name of the
place even to this day, as I am assured by the Gaelic minister of the town. The Vacomagi had
probably a village at Varis or Faris. They certainly had a large hill-fort, the remains whereof
are still extant on the summit of the Clunie hills at Forres. This strength is of a form between
oval and circular, is surrounded by a strong rampart of earth and a fosse which is still 12 feet
wide. The area within the ramparts measures 6 acres, 3 roods, and 25 falls, Scottish. On the
south side of the hill there is a small post of a square form, defended by an earthen rampart and
fosse, inclosing an area of 10 feet square, or 16 falls Scottish. This description is given from an
accurate survey and plan which were made for me in 1798 by Robert Macwilliam, a land-
surveyor.
132 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book \.—Thc Roman Period.
doubtedly lay along Glen-beg and Glen-sliee, to the confluence of the Shee
with the Lornty water. From this position nine miles would conduct the
Roman troops to the station in medio. From the passage of the Dee or the
Tamea of Richard, along the Cluny water, Glen-beg, and Glen-shee, the
whole extent of the route amounts to almost forty statute miles. This distance,
the natural direction of the country, the constant course of the waters, and the
existence of Roman works, all concur to fix the station, in medio, at Tnchtuthel,
which still exhibits a remarkable camp of Roman construction on a height that
forms the northern bank of the river Tay (o). From the station, in medio, is
the distance of nine Itinerary miles to Orrea, and the real but corresponding
distance from Inchtuthel, along the banks of the Tay to ancient Bertha, is
almost ten miles (p). At this central station, which has in every age con-
tinued a military position of great importance, the tenth Iter rejoined the ninth;
and from Orrea it proceeded southward by the former route, though with
some trivial eri'ors in the distances, to the wall of Antonine {q). Such errors
may be well pardoned in Richard, when we consider how much Ptolomy has
perverted the true position of North-Britain. It is, indeed, seldom that an
ancient author is so completely confirmed by coincident facts, subsequent dis-
coveries, and x-ecent experience, as the Westminster monk, to whom every
British antiquary is so greatly indebted for his interesting researches.
The whole extent of country from the wall of Antonine to the Estuary of
Varar, which we have thus traversed, is said by Richard, who is supported by
strong proofs, to have been erected into a Roman province by the name of
Vespasiana (r). His authority for this information has been doubted, though
his facts, which are confirmed by remains, can admit of no dispute. Wliether
the east coast of North-Bi'itain, from the frith of Forth to the frith of
Moray, had, in the age of Antonme, been formally erected into a Roman
province, is a question which need not be strenuously argued. The comitry
was traversed, as we shall immediately see, by Roman ways (s) ; the Cale-
donian tribes who lived on that coast were overawed by Roman posts ; and
coins, and medals, and potteiy, have been frequently discovered, which indi-
cate, wherever they are found, the footsteps, and illustrate the arts, of that
powerful nation. It is certain, as we have already learned from Ulpian, that
(o) See afterwards an account of the station at Inclituthel.
(p) Eichard, p. 38 ; Stobie's map of Pertlisliire. (q) Eoy's Milit. Antiq., p. 134.
(»•) Eichard, p. 31.
(.?) Bergier lays it down as a sort of maxim that every Eoman province must have had its mihtary
ways. Hist, des Grands Chemins de I'Empire Eom., torn, i., p. 334.
Cli. IW— The Actions of L. Urbicus.] 0 f N 0 E T H - B E I T A I N. 133
the Caledonian people who lived within the Roman boundaries in North-
Britain, were entitled to the privileges of Roman citizens under the beneficial
edict of Antoninus Pius (t).
One of the most striking monuments of the Roman power was their highA\ajs,
which, by traversing theii' provinces, supported their authority and promoted
their intercourse. The whole extent of territory which lay between the southern
and northern walls, was every where intersected by Roman roads. A Roman
way may still be traced into the very interior of Vespaslana, where it conducted
the march of the Roman armies, kept up the communication between the stations,
and thereby enforced the submission of the Caledonian clans. It is important to
trace all those roads in their series, that we may be enabled to judge of the
Roman polity which invigorated the Roman armies to subdue so many people.
The westei'n road, as its course had been traced by the genius of Agricola,
though constructed by his successors, was the oldest, and being the usual route
of the troops, was the most frequented, even down to the sad epoch of the
inarch of Severus. This road issues from the southern rampart at Stanwix,
near Carlisle, and crossing the Esk at Langtown Church, points westward
through Sol way-moss (a). After passing the Sark at Barrowslacks, the vestiges
of this road are distinctly to be seen for many miles leading west-north-west,
through the 2}^'0cesti-ium of the station at Birrens, the British name whereof in-
dicates an ancient strength. Passing on the west of Burrens-wark hill, whereon
there are the striking remains of two Roman camjjs, the road proceeds in a
north-western direction to the river Milk, which it seems to have passed at the
Drove-ford, Ijetween Scrogs and Milk-bridge ; and leaving the post of ]\Ialls-
Castle, Lockerby and the Roman camp on Tor-wood Moor, all on the left,
it d'osses the river Dryfe below Dryfesdale Church, at a little distance from its
confluence with the Annan {b). At this position a branch of this great road
departed from its usual course to the left towards Nithsdale (c). The Roman
(i) Digest. This supports tlie notices in Richard, p. 36.
(a) From Ainslie's map of Scotland, which delineates the Eoman road from Roy's Mappa Britannim
Septentrionalis, it appears that the Roman road pushed across the present site of Solway JIoss, about
the middle of it, and afterwards passed the White and Black Sark-watere a considerable distance
northward of Gretna. Trom this intimation there is some reason to conclude that the Solway Moss
did not exist in anything Uke its present state during the first centuiy.
(b) See Maitland's History, v. i., p. 191-2.
(c) The minister of Dryfesdale says : " There are plain traces of the great Roman road from the
" borders of England up to the vast encampments on the hill of Bumswark, and thence, crossing this
" parish at Lockerby, to Diysdale-gate, up to the Galaberr)-.hill, on which there is a Eoman fort, where
134 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Feriod-
road now pursued its course along the east side of Annandale by Dinwoody
Green, and a small post at Girthliead, to Wamphray-water, which having
crossed, it pushed forwai'd along the east side of the Annan by another small
redoubt, and then passed that river, near the Burnfoot of Kirkpatrick (d).
The Roman road now proceeded along the west branch of the Annan, leading
by the entrenchments at Tassies-holm ; and having passed the Avon, near its
conflux, with the Annan, it pursued its course along the ridge, between these
two rivers, and ascending Erickstane-brae, and passing this remarkable ridge,
which sends out the Annan, the Tweed, and the Clyde, it soon arrived on the
upper branch of this river at a place that is named Little Clyde, where the
Romans had a small post (e). The Roman road thence coursing the right
bank of the Clyde by Newton, that is opposite to Elvan-foot, appears to have
been joined by the branch, which went ofl^ from its track to the westward in
Annandale, near Crawford Castle, at the foot of Camp-Water (/).
From this remarkable position, where we have just pei'ceived both the branches
of the Roman road again join their accustomed track, it pursued the shortest
course over the high grounds of Crawford parish ; and then descending from
this elevation into the valley of the Clyde, it passed by Gateside, Causeway,
and Catchapel, where there is a square redoubt towards Lamington. ((/).
" the road divided, one branch leading up thi'ough Annandale, by Moffat, to Clydesdale ; the other
" branch crossed the Annan, visited Lochmaben, and thence passed along the west side of the rivulet Ae,
"through Nithsdale into Ayr." Stat. Acco., v. ix., p. 426.
(cZ) The minister of Wamphray says : " The post-road between Glasgow and Carlisle passes
"through that parish, and in the track of it there was a Roman road, by the side of which a
" few upright stones, each about five feet high, are still standing, nearly at the distance of a Scots
" mile from one another, and therefore are supposed by some to have been mile-stones." lb.
V. sii.. p. 606. Yet are we to recollect that the Scots mile was larger than either the Roman or the
English mile.
(e) The minister of Kirkpatrick-Juxta says : " There is a Roman road yet to be traced running
" through this parish from south to north. It comes up the east bank of Annan from the ruins of a
" large camp at Burrenswark, and passes here a place called Tassiesholm, where there are some remains
" of a small square encampment." Stat. Acco., v. iv., p. 522. The minister of Moffat adds : " The
" Roman road from Esk to Stirling passes through part of this parish to the west of the village of Moffat.
" The vestiges of that road, and of some military stations near it, are still visible. Some large Roman
" encampments also can be distinctly traced in this neighbourhood. Near the Roman road, where it
" enters the parish of Moffat, there was found in a mass, about three years ago, a piece of gold having a
" semicircular form, on the outer edge of which was cut the following inscription : JOV, AVC VOT.
" XX." lb. V. ii., p. 287.
(/) Maitland, v. i., p. 193, says the Roman road runs from Newton along the south side of the
Clyde, where it is plainly to be seen.
(g) The minister of Crawford tells us : " We have two Roman roads which come "thi'ough this
Ch. IV.— Actions of L. Urbkii^.l OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 135
The united road proceeded from the Roman post near Lammgton along the
right bank of the Clyde towards Biggar, but except in crossing Biggar-moss,
where its vestiges are very obvious, few traces of it any where appear (h). At
Biggar there is a strong redoubt, which is called the moat, where Roman coins
have been found. From this place, which seems to have been a central j^osi-
tion, there probably went oif a vicinal way to the Roman stations in Tweeddale,
with which this was plainly the natural communication (i).
From the station at Biggar the great road passed by Liberton-kirk towards
Lockhart-hill, which is now called Carstairs-house (k). Having traversed the
enclosures of Lockhart-hall, this road passes through the station of Castle Dykes
near Carstairs, which is finely situated on the right bank of the Clyde ; and
leaving Renstruther on the right, proceeds to Cleghorn MUl, where it crosses
the river Mous (/). The road leads thence through the enclosures of Cleghorn,
leaving the Roman camp on the right, and going on by Collylaw, Kil-Cad-
zow, Coldstream, and YuUshields to Belstane, in the neighbourhood of Car-
luke, being throughout Clydesdale known by the appropriate name of the
WatliiKj -street (m).
At Belstane the Watling-street pursued its course to the wall in two several
dhections : a branch went off to the right by Shotts, to the opening in the wall
near Camelon (n) ; the principal branch continued its usual course along
parish." lb. v. iv. p., 514. He obviously alludes to tbe two branches of the great road which
came out of Annandale and Nithsdale, the one coursing the left and the other the right side of Upper
Clyde.
(h) Roy carries the Eoman road up to the vicinity of Biggar, where there are the remains of a camp.
PI. i. Eoss, when he surveyed Lanarkshire, traced this road almost to Biggar.
(j) Maitland, v. i., p. 193-4, says mistakingly that a branch went off from Biggar in a north-east
direction by the eastern end of the Pentland-hills.
(k) Near Carstairs-kirk have been found the remains of a bath. Eoy, p. 104. And many Eoman
bricks, Eoman coins, and other objects, which aU denote the long residence of the Eoman troops at
this station, on the track of the road. Stat. Acco., v. xv., p. 10 ; lb. sviii., p. 180.
(/) Eoy, p. 104 ; and pi. xxvii.
(m) Sibbald's Eoman Antiquities, p. 39 ; Eoy, p. 104-5 ; Stat. Acco. of Scot., v. xv., p. 10.
In the Stat. Account of Carluke, v. viii., p. 136, the Rev. Dr. Scott says: "From south-east to
" north-west runs the Eoman road, which is caUed here Watling-street. In some places, especially
" at Kilcadzow, it is still so visible that the manner of its fonnation can be easily ascertained : the
" Eomans appear to have placed broad stones in the bottom of the road where the ground was soft.
" and broke others very small with which they covered the surface. Eoman coins have been foimd in
" the direction of this road at Bumhouse and at Castle-hill."
(") Sir E. Sibbald, when speaking of the Eoman road through Clydesdale called the Watling-
street, says, " The people have a tradition that another Eoman street went from Lanark to the
13G An A C C 0 U N T [Book l.—The Roman Perwd.
Clydesdale to Garongilhead, and thence passing Blindwalls and Cambusne-
than kirk on the right, it pushes on by Meadowhead to a place called Roman
Stands; whence it passes forward by Motherwell towards Orbiston, on the
west side of Calderwater, where there was a Roman station in a remai'kable
bend of the Calder (»). The Roman road passed thence along the height to
the southward of Bellshill, and must have crossed West Calder Water not far
above its conflux with the Clyde. Between this jiassage and Glasgow some
traces of it were lately to be seen, particularly a little to the eastward of Toll-
cross ; its I'emains Avere also to be recently traced beyond Glasgow, between
Dalmure-burn and Old Kirkpati'ick, where the road joined the western end of
Antonine's wall.
We must now return to that bi'anch of the western road which went off
from the principal road in Annandale, near its passage of the Dryfe Water. It
"Eoman colony near Falkirk." Rom. Antiq., 1707, p. 39. In liis map of the Roman roads.
1726, Gordon delineates tliis Roman street from Clydesdale, several miles northward from Lanark-
town, athwart the country to the opening of the wall at Camelon, the Roman colony to which
Sibbald alludes. This road Gordon appears to have considered as the only continuation of the
Watliug-street to the wall ; for he does not delineate the continuation of it along the east side of
the Clyde to the western end of the wall. See his map, which is prefixed to his Itinerary. Roy
assures us it was affirmed (by the country people) that a Eoman road went from Castlecary on
the wall southward by Crowbank and Fannyside, and that the stones of it were lately chig up. He
thus supposes that the Romans must have had such a communication, and he points out the most
probable route by the Kirk of Shotts to Belstane. Milit. Antiq., 107-7. It is obvious that Sibbald,
Gordon, and Roy all concur in speaking of a traditionary road which went, in the opinion of the people,
from Belstane by the Kirk of Shotts to Camelon, whence the same road proceeded into the interior of
Vespasiana.
()i) The minister of Dalziel, in Stat. Acco., v. iii., p. 458, says, " The great Roman highway
" commonly called Watling-street, went along the summit of this parish from East to West ; but
" its course is now much defaced by modern improvements, and for some length the modern
" turnpike road is laid upon the top of it. In one place near the centre of the parish it has been
" preserved entire, so as to point out the line to after times, the Cross-stone, the emblem of the
" baron's jurisdiction, being placed upon it, and a clump of trees planted around, fenced, and
" secm'ed. On this ancient road, at the western boundary of the parish, upon a steep bank over
" the river Calder, are the remains of a Roman encampment. Little more than twenty years ago
" it was pretty entire, but cultivation has now greatly encroached upon it. At the foot of the bank
" there is a semicircular arch over the river Calder of good masonry and very uncommon constnic-
'• tion, which has been supposed to be the work of the Romans. By this bridge Watling-street
" seems to have entered the parish of Bothwell." The Stat. Account of Bothwell, v. svi., p. 325,
says, " About a quarter of a mile east from this thei-e is a bridge over the South-Calder, which is
"judged to be of Roman construction, being of one arch, high, very naiTow, and without ledges.
'•■ The Roman road called Watling-street was a few years ago in entire preservation leading to it from
" the east through Dalziel parish ; but it is now scarce discernible, being removed by the course of the
-"plough."
Ch.l\.— The Actions of L. Urblcus.'] Op N OETH -B EIT AIN. 137
turned away to the left, crossed the Annan below the influx of the rivev Ae, and
pushed on in a westerly direction to Nithsdale, passing by the post called
Wood-Castle, by Murder-loch, Lanegate, and Duncow to Dalswinton on the
river Nith (o). This road now went up Nithsdale, on the east side of the Nith,
passing by the village of Thornhill, and crossing Carron water a little above
its influx into the Nith [p). From this passage the road continued its course
in a northerly direction past a Roman fort, in a remarkable pass above the Kirk
of Dui-isdeer ; from this post it pushed through the hills by the defile called
the Wall Path ; and it went down the west side of Powtrail-water to its confluence
with the Dair. The road now continued its course along the west side of the
Dair till its influx into the Clyde, and equally proceeded along the west side of
the Clyde, past Elvanfoot and Crawford village, and then crossed the Clyde
to Crawford-Castle, where it joined the Annandale branch, as we have seen {q).
There was plainly another road which traversed Nithsdale, and which was
yet unknown to Gordon, to Roy, and to Ainslie (r). From the road which
(()) The Stat. Account of Tinwald, v. i., p. 165, says that this Roman road, after coming
through the parish of Lochmaben, enters the old parish of Trailflat, and passes by Amisfield-
house, where there are many distinct traces of a castelluiii ; and the road is traced to the village of
Duncow in the parish of Kirkmahoe. A branch from this road on the north has been traced
through a moss in the parish of Kirkmichael, and seems to have terminated at a castellum, which
has been converted into the minister's garden, the fortification whereof remains very distinct on two
sides. In a moss upon the line of this vicinal road there was found in 1784 a pretty large pot of a
sort of base copper, and a decanter of the same metal, nearly of the shape and size of a common white
stone quart decanter, with three feet about an inch and a half long. These were presented by the
Eev. Dr. Burgess to the Antiquary Society of Edinburgh, and were considered as Soman. Stat.
Acco., V. i., p. 64.
(jo) On the west side of the Nith, opposite to the point where the Eoman road turns up the Carron,
there is the remain of a Roman fort called Tibbers-Castle, which is properly represented in Roy's
MiUt. Ant., pi. xlis., and in Crawford's map of Dumfriesshire ; but Roy in his account of this road as
well as in his Roman map. and Ainslie. who follows him in his map of Scotland, mistakingly apply
the name of Tibbers-Castle to another Eoman fort in the pass lying north of Durisdeer church, which
is more than five miles northward from the real site of Tibbers-Castle.
(?) See Gordon's map, which is prefixed to his Itiiterari/, and which represents this western branch
as the only communication that the Romans had between the Roman walls on the west. The track of
this branch is erroneously represented by Eoy in his map, pi. i., and by Ainslie after him in his map
of Scotland ; instead of making it touch Dalswinton on the Nith, they lead it into the valley of the Nith
nine miles north of the remarkable position at Dalswinton.
(r) Maitland, however, seems to have had some confused notion of such a road ; for in v. i.,
p. 193, he says: "The Roman road, after passing from Annandale to Nithsdale, ran up the east
side of Nith river to the Eoman fortress, called Tibbers-Castle, and being joined by the Roman
road from Elwanfoot, both went on together to the county of Ayr, and to the estuary of Clyde."
Vol. I. T
138 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
went up tiie east side of Nithsdale, another brancla diverged to the left, crossed
the Nith, and traversed the Strath of the Scar in a north-west direction towards
Kyle (s) ; yet is it doubtful whether this road ever went forward into Ayrshire,
where no remains of it have yet been found.
From the station of Castledykes there went ofi' a vicinal road athwart Clydes-
dale, wliich was perhaps intended to form a communication between the wes-
tern road and the estuary of the Clyde. This vicinal road probably passed the
Clyde near Lanark, and thence led over Stonebyre-hill towards Carro-mill,
where it no doubt passed the Nethan river, though its track cannot now be
ascertained ; yet on Draflan-Crofts, beyond the Nethan, its vestiges are often
disclosed by the successive operations of the plough. This road now crossed
Canerburn at the Gill, where it becomes very visible at present, leading by
Tan-hill, along the northside of Blackwood inclosures to Dins-hill ; it thence
passed to the south of Hazleden, crossing Kype-Water at Sandyford, and
coursed along the south side of Avondale, by Wellsley and Westlingbank,
towards the gorge of Loudon-hdl {t). Beyond this remarkable position this
road has not been hitherto traced ; yet its natural track led along the Irvine-
Water, till it terminated at the commodious haven which is formed by its influx
into the Clyde (m).
From the Clydesdale road another vicinal way diverged to the left at
Glasgow, and passing the river at the ford, went athwart the country to the
station of Vanduaria at Paisley. This way was traced by Gordon in 1725;
(s) The Stat. Acoo. of Penpont, whicli lies on tlie west side of the Nith, v. i., p. 209, says : '•' An old
Eoman causeway runs through Tynrou close to the edge of Scar-water." And the Stat. Acco. of
Tynron, v. xiv., p. 280, observes : •' An old Eoman way runs through this parish, and at this distant
day from its foundation, is in many places quite uncovered with grass : its direction is from east
to west (rather north-west) along the face of the hills."
{{) The Stat. Acco. of Strathaven, v. ix., p. 394, says : " A Eoman road or causeway can be traced
for several miles ou the south side of the Avon." A remarkable discovery of Eoman coins has been
lately made near the track of this vicinal road through the upper part of Strathaven. On the 5th of
Miirch, 1805, some labourers who were employed in making a drain at Torfoot, some miles south-west
of the village of Strathaven, discovered a glass bottle of an oblong square form, which was surrounded
by several stones artificially placed for its preservation. The bottle was carefully sealed up with a
greenish pigment, and upon being opened, was found to contain about 400 Eoman silver coins of
Trajan, Antoninus Pius, Faustina, Crispina, and of various other emperors and empresses. The coins
weigh about 40 grains each, and are generally in good preservation. About fifty of them were indeed
so encrusted as to adhere together, and were considerably defaced by the rude hand that attempted to
separate them.
(») About two miles north-east of Irvine, in Ayrshire, there was found before Gordon's time a
gladius of old mixed brass three yards underground. Itin. Sept., 1726, p. 118.
Ch.IV.— The Actio7is of L. Urhicu.<.:^ Of NORTH-BEIT AIN. 139
but such has been the agricultural imjDrovements of this industrious district, that
the remains, which appeared to the curious eye of the tourist, can be no longer
seen (v). There are indeed to be traced an ancient causeway through Mauls-
rayre, on the estate of Castlemilk in Lanarkshire, which antiquarians have sup-
posed to be a Roman remain, though they have not been very successful in con-
necting it either with the vicinal way to Paisley or with the Roman road
through Clydesdale {x).
On the great western road there was also a vicinal way, which went off to
the nortli-eastward from Langtown, by Netherby to Liddel-moat, and here,
crossing the Liddel, pushed up into Eskdale along the eastern side of the Esk,
as far as the station of Castle-over in Eskdale-moor {y).
((•) Itinei-arium Septentrionale. Horsley also intimates tliat he had seen, soon after, the same remains.
Brit. Eomana, p. 377. Eoy, p. 106. At Glasgow, when this vicinal road diverged towards Paisley,
there once existed a commodious ford till the Clyde was deepened in 1772. The shoal which formed
this ford was long known by the appropriate name of the Hirst, and extended a quarter of a mile up
and down the river at this place ; between the Broomie-law and the Brewery Quay. Mr. Smeaton the
engineer, who surveyed this shoal in 1758, found the depth of water on it only one foot three inches
at low water, and three feet three inches at high water ; and Mr. Watt the engineer, who surveyed
it in 1769, found that the depth of water on the Hirst was only one foot two inches at the ebb of a
spring tide. MS. Eepoii.
(.<•) Sir E. Sibbald says : " In Clydesdale, from Erickstane in the one end, to Maulsmyre in the other,
"where it borders upon Renfrew, there are evident vestiges of a Roman military way called the
" Watling-street, and is visible for whole miles together." Rom. Antiq., p. 39 ; Ure's Ruglen, p. 133;
Stat. Acco., V. xviii., p. 172.
{y) The Stat. Acco. of Canoby, v. xiv., p. 421, says: '-The remains of a Roman Station
" appear about three quarters of a mile east of Gilknocky, near which a variety of Roman coins
" and stones with Roman inscriptions have been dug up. From this camp a Roman road can
" be traced through the east side of this parish, crossing Tarras-water, and entering the parish of
" Langholm, on the estate of Broomholm, and from thence leading up Eskdale to the different
" stations in that quarter." The Stat. Acco. of Langholm, v. xiii., p. 597, says : " The Roman
" road of communication between Netherby and Castle-over, or Over-by, in Eskdale-muir, can still
" be traced. It enters this parish at the south-east corner, crosses the Esk a little above Broom-
" holm, and continues its progress north-west into the parish of Westerkirk ; and the minister
"adds that a number of Roman coins have been found on that line of road." Particularly in
1782 there were discovered by some workmen several denarii atirei — four of Nero, two of Vespa-
sian, and one of Domitian, which were all in excellent preservation, and which are now in the pos-
session of Lady Douglas of Douglas. In the track of the same road there were found at a subse-
quent period a coin of Otho and two denarii aurei near Wauchope Bridge. The commanding
station of Castle-over appears to have been originally a British strength, which, from the advan-
tages of its situation, was converted by the Eomans into a post that commanded Eskdale. In
the country around this remarkable station, to the distance of several mUes, there are still to be
observed the remains of smaller British strengths on the top of almost every height. There are
also to be seen the remains of several posts, which appear to have formed a chain of conii.iunication
T 2
140 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The liomnn Period
After this full account of the west road of the Romans between the southern
and northern walls, it is proper to revert to the Roman ways which conducted
the Roman armies from South to North, on the East of the Roman province.
The Watling-street, having passed the walls of Hadrian and Severus at Poit-
gate, directed its course through a rugged country, by the stations of Rising-
ham and Roe-chester, in Reedsdale, and thence by the Golden Pots on
Thirlmoor, to the camp at Chewgreen, near the source of the Coquet, where
it enters North-Britain (z). At the distance of three miles from Chewgreen
the Roman road ascends the mountains by the remarkable pass of Woden-
law ; and at the bottom of those mountains it crosses the Kail-water at Tow-
ford (a). From its entrance into North-Britain it forms the boundary between
the parishes of Oxnam and Hounam for the extent of more than five miles,
when it enters a detached part of the parish of Jedburgh, and pushes forward
in nearly a straight line to Bon-jedburgh, which is situated on an angle formed
by the confluence of the Jed and Teviot, where there are said to be some ves-
tiges of a station (h). After passing the Teviot at that place it leads through
the enclosures of Mount-Teviot, and now, for the distance of three and a half
miles, in a direct course, it bounds the parishes of Maxton and Ancrum :
passing over St. Boswell's Green it crosses Bowden-burn above Newton, where
its remains aie veiy distinct (c) ; and from thence it went forward to the village
of Eldon, at the eastern base of the Eldon hills, on the summit whereof there was
a very strong fort of the Britons, with a Roman station in its vicinity below (d).
between the station of Castle-over and the great station at Middlebie, on the Mein-watei-, in Annan-
dalo. There is reason to believe that the Eoman road which has been thus described as leading up
Eskdale wont even beyond the station of Castle-over to the northern estremitj' of Eskdale. Eeport
states that a Roman canseway has been discovered at the head of the parish of Eskdale-muir, near a
farm-house named Over-causewa)/, before which place the remains of a pretty strong outer station are
still discernible. Stat. Acco., v. xii., p. 614. From a slight notice of this vicinal road thus leading
up Eskdale, General Eoy mistakingly conceived that it had been begun by the Eomans with a view to
carry it from Eskdale to the right along Tarras-water and across the country past Hawick to the
Eldon-hills, and there to join it to the great eastern road. Milit. Antiq., v. i., p. 105, and the map,
p. i. This error arose from his not tracing its real track to its proper destination, the station of Castle-
over in Upper Eskdale.
(.r) See Eoy. p. 102. and Stobie's map of Roxburghshire, for the track of this Roman road from its
entrance into North Britain, through that country as far as it can be traced, under the name of the
Watling-atTeet. This appellation has puzzled all the antiquaries, yet it is merely the A. Saxon Wathol,
erraticus, as we leam from Lye. See the Saxon Chronicle, p. 143.
((() There is a Eoman post on the road after it has passed the Kail-water. {h) Roy, p. 102.
(c) Mr. Kingliorn, who surveyed this part of the Roman road for me in 1803, says that the remains
of it are very distinct where it passes down the bank on the south side of Bowden-burn.
((?) See Slilne's Account of Melrose, p. 4"), which Eoy seems not to have consulted. This road
Ch. IV.— J ctions of L. Urbicvs.^ OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 141
From Eldon the Roman road went ofl" in a north-west direction past Mel-
rose, where many Roman coins have been found, and traversed the Tweed at
the same ford, where the common road now passes it above Meh-ose, and
near the village of Galtonside (c). Near to this ford there are two camps :
one on the south side, and another on the north side of the Tweed (d). After
the passage of the Tweed the road turned to the right, and proceeded north-
ward to the R,oman station of Chester-lee, on the north side of a rivulet which
falls into the Leader above Clacmae (e). Proceeding forward from Chester-lee
for three quarters of a mUe, the Roman road still shows its remains for a con-
siderable distance, and crossing the present turnpike, and soon after a brook
which falls into the Leader below Chapel, and pushing on northward it
is noticed in the Stat. Accounts of Hounam, v. i., p. 52 ; of Osnam, v. xi., p. 330 ; of Crailing,
V. ii., p. 331 ; of Ancrum, v. x., p. 294 ; of Maxton, v. iii., p. 277 — 9 ; and of Eoxburgli. v. xis.^
p. 137. In some of those accounts antiquities are mentioned as having been found near the Watling-
street, and the remains of Roman camps as existing in the vicinity of the same Eoman road.
(c) Several Eoman coins of Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, M. Aurelius, and of
Constantine, have been foimd at Meh-ose. Milne's Account, p. 44 ; and Kinghom's MS.
Survey, for the passage of the road. From Eldon northward, General Eoy in tracing its
course, has completely mistaken its track towards Soutra-hill. Vfithout looking for the intima-
tions of others, he was misled by the appearance of the Givthijate, which passes from the bridge end
of Tweed up the valley of Allan-water, across the moors to Soutrar-hospital on Soutra-hill. This
footway, without any examination of its formation or materials, he mistook for the only remains
of this Eoman road. He forgot that Warburton, the surveyor and antiquary, had rode upon
the true road in 1722, from the river Eeed, in Northumberland, by Jedburgh, Melrose, Lauder,
Ginglekirk. now Channelkirk, to Dalkeith and to Graham's dike. See Warburton's Letters to
Gale, dated the 12th December 1723, in Reliqutw Galeaiue, p. 438. He adds, " The pavement
" is untrue, and the stones large ; so that some unskilful persons might perhaps take it for the
"foundation of a wall; but that any one versed in antiquity should do so is strange." lb. 440.
For this pavement with large stones Eoy never looked. He might have seen some useful intima-
tions in Milne's Melrose, who had thrown his curious eyes on this interesting remain in 1746. I
caused it to be surveyed by the intelligent Mi-. Kinghorn, in November 1803, when the real track was
again ascertained.
(rf) lb. 46 — 60 ; Stat. Acco., v. is., p. 92 ; and Stobie's Map of Eoxburghshiie.
(e) The camp at Chesterlee was placed on a commanding eminence, which overlooked several
British forts in the sun-ounding country. It was of a square foi-m, having its angles rounded ; and
it measures 160 yards on each side. It was secured by a double fosse and an earthen rampart ;
but the whole camp has been either cultivated or planted. About 500 yards westward from Chester-
lee camp, upon the northern side of the same rivulet, there was a small Eoman post called Ridtjewalls,
which stood also on a height that overlooked several British foi-ts, both on the North and South.
The post of Ridgeiralls was of an oblong form, secured by three fosses and ramparts of earth, the area
within the inner rampart being 85 yards long and 37 yards broad. This post has also been much
defaced by cultivation. MS. Survey of Mr. Kinghorn.
142 An ACCOUNT [Bodkl.— The Roman Period-
arrives at a small station called the Waas, or Walls, near to New Blainslee (_/) :
passing on from the Waas the Roman road again becomes very distinct,
throughout a mile and a half, when it again crosses the turnpike road, and
immediately afterwards a rivulet, about half a mile east-noi'th-east from Chield-
helles Chapel, where it enters Berwickshire. In proceeding up Lauderdale the
Roman road appears to have passed on the West of Lauder town, and between
it and Old Lauder, where there are the remains of a military station (g). About
a mile and a half above Lauder the remains of the Roman road again become
visible, and is here named the Ox-road, as it leads up to a strong station
called Black- CAeste7'(/i). From this station the Roman road passes on north-
ward by the west of Oxton, and in the course of half a mile again becomes
distinct, and continues obvious to every eye as it crosses the western stream
of the Leader, in its course to the Roman station at Channel-kirk {i). From
this commanding post the Roman road proceeded forward to Soutra-hill,
whence turning to the left it traversed the declivity of the country to Currie,
(/) This Roman station -was placed upon a gentle eminence on the western side of Leader-
water. It is of an oblong form, and comprehends an acre and a half of ground. Its ramparts
seem to have been of stone, though they are now so much defaced as not to show distinctly of what
materials they were originally composed. MS. Survey of Mr. Kinghorn.
((7) Roman coins have been dug up in the vicinity of Lauder, which the minister has preserved.
Stat. Acco., V. iii., p. 77. This station, which was placed on a rising ground, is of an oblong form,
which approaches to an oval ; and its longest diameter is 120 yards from East to West, and its
shortest 82 yards from North to South. It was secured by a single fosse and rampart of earth,
which are now very much defaced. Proceeding from this station there are the remains of a mili-
tary road, with a sloping ditch on either side, which led down from this station eastward, as if
to join the great road of the Romans as it passed northward to the Roman wall. MS. Survey of Mi".
Kinghorn.
(/() This camp was placed on a rising ground which overlooks several British forts in the sur-
rounding country. Its figure is something between a circle and an oval, and seems to have been
thus formed to suit the ground whereon it was placed. It was secui-ed by two fosses and ram-
parts of earth, having one entrance on the East and another on the West. The outer ditch is,
even now, nearly eleven yards wide, and from fifteen to twenty feet deep ; the inner ditch is about
fourteen feet wide, and appears to have been seven or eight feet deep, but is now much filled up.
MS. Survey of Mr. Kinghorn.
(i) The Roman camp at Channelkirk appears to have been of considerable extent and very simi-
lar to the Roman camp at Cleghorn, in Clydesdale ; but, as the greatest part of the surrounding
ramparts of this camp has been levelled, its exact dimensions cannot now be ascertained. The west
side and a part of the east only remained in November, 1803. The west side exhibits a gate
which is covered by a traverse, and at the south-west corner there is a prodigious redoubt. The
area of this camp is now occupied by the church, the church-yard, and the minister's glebe of
Ohannelldi'k, and extends to almost five acres. Roy's Mil. Antiq., p. Gl, pi. vi. : and MS. Survey of
Mr. Kinghorn.
Ch. IV.—r/ie A ctions of L. Urhkus.] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 143
wtich stands in a bend of the Gore water, and which is ascei-tained to be the
Curia of Ptolomy (k). From this remarkable position the road pushed on
in a north-western direction, and crossed the South Esk near Dalhousie Castle,
and the North Esk near Mavis-bank, where many Roman antiquities have
been found. The road thence pursued its course by Loanhead and Straiton,
which probably owe their names to its neighbourhood, to Bowbridge at the
east end of the Pentland-Hills (Z). At this position vestiges of it were lately
to be seen till the present turnpike was made, leading through the entrench-
ments at the Buckstane (hi). The Roman road thence continued its course
by the east end of Bruce-hill towards Mutton-hole [Davidson's Mains], near the
corner of the park wall of Barnton ; and from this position it pursued its short
track, which is still discernible by curious eyes, to the naval station on the
Forth at CrauKind, the Alaterva of Roman times. From Cramond the road-
crossed the river Almond, and passing Barnbougle-hill went on along Eklin-
moor, where it appeared to the inquisitive sight of Maitland, to Caeridden,
which formed the eastern extremity of the Roman wall (n).
This memorable rampart was necessarily attended by a military road. It can
be traced, indeed, behind the wall throughout its whole extent, and even to
Dunglas beyond its western extremity ; and a military road, though not
perhaps of the same magnitude and usefulness, must undoubtedly have con-
nected the stations which the genius of Agricola had placed on the same com-
modious isthmus.
As there were still more western roads wliich went off from the west road ;
so there was a more eastern branch that diverged to the eastward from the
(i) From the Roman post at Inveresk there went a vicinal road to a large Roman camp at
Sheriff-hall, three miles south-west of Inveresk, and thence southward to the station of Curia. The
traces of this ancient road between the post of Inveresk and Sheriff-hall were visible in the memory
of several persons who are still living. Stat. Account of Inveresk, v. xvi., p. 5. In writing on this
subject in 1707, Sir R. Sibbald informs us that "the track of a Roman road appeareth yet, in the way
"from Musselburgh to Lugton, and from thence to Borthwick-Castle " (near Currie). Rom.
Antiq., 39.
(/) In this neighbourhood, saith Maitland, the Roman road is to be seen pointing to the station of
Cramond. Hist, of Scot., v. i., p. 194.
(m) The entrenchments at the Buckstane which now remain are of an oval figure, and seem to have
been originally much more extensive, but from their appearance they are thought to be rather of
British than of Roman construction.
(n) For the whole track of this eastern road, see Roy's Majjpa Brit. Septentrionalis ; and Ain-
slie's Map of Scotland ; and also Richard, and Roy's Antiq., p. 104, h ; Maitland's Hist., v. ii.,
p. 203. It must, however, be recollected that Roy and Ainslie, who foUow him, have mistakingly
144 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
eastern Watliug-street, soon after it had issued from Severus's wall. This
branch, which is known by the popular name of llie Devil's Causey, thus diverg-
ing to the right from the Watling-street at Bewclay, pushed on between that
road and the sea towards the Tweed, near West Ord, and entering Scotland,
it pointed its course towards Mordington, whence it has not been traced along
the eastern coast (o). It is, however, certain, as remains attest, that a Roman
road led from Inveresk to Cramond along the coast of the Forth (p).
One road only seems to have issued towards the North from the wall of
Antonine, at the distance of a mile and a furlong eastward of the strong fort
of Rough Castle, through an opening in the wall, which had been plainly left
for this necessary purpose. This circumstance shows distinctly the design of
Lollius Urbicus to extend the Roman avithority throughout the Caledonian
regions on the north-east.
The road had scarcely issued from the wall when it passed through Came-
lon, the Roman port on the Carron ; and pushing straight forward according
to the Roman manner across the Carron, it pursued its course, by Torwood-
house, Pleaumuir, Bannockburn, St. Ninian's, and by the west side of the
Castle-hill of Stirling to the river Forth, on the south side of wliich, near
Kildean, there are evident traces of its curious remains. It here passed the
Forth, and went forward to the station of Alamia, which was situated on the
river Allan, about a mile above its confluence with the Forth, and which, as
carried this road up the course of AUan-water to Soutra-liill, in place of the real track along Leader-
water. See the British-Roman map prefixed.
(o) Eoy, p. 103-4. This road may possibly have communicated with the Eoman station on the
White Adder near Allan-bank, which is distant only about five miles from the Tweed at West Ord ;
but Ainslie has in his map of Scotland carried up this road to the supposed Roman post on the height
near St. Abb's-head. Maitland, indeed, supposes that this road entered Scotland at Ber-nn-ck, whence
he cames it by Coldinghaui-moor, Old Cambus, and Dunbar by devious courses to Inveresk. Hist.
Scot.. V. i., p. 202. He does not, however, say that he had seen any actual remains of this road
throughout this extended route. See Sibbald's Rom. Antiq., p. 7.
(^j) Maitland traced the remains of this road, near Musselburgh, on the West, whence it went
on to Leith, where it passed Leith-water at the foot of the Weigh-house Wynd. where it was dis-
covered when the pier was repaired, at the beginning of the last century. Hist. Scot., v. i., p. 203.
This road appears in the north-east of Duddingston parish, by the name of the Fishwives Causey.
Stat. Acco., V. xviii., p. 376. In dragging; for marie in Duddingston-looh, Eoman antiquities have
been found. Id, Gordon traced the tame road from Cramond towards Edinburgh, where it dis-
appeared among the improvements. Itinei avium, 117. Had he pursued his search in 1725 towards
Leith he had discovered its remains.
Ch. IV. — The Actions of L. Urbicus.] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 145
it is twelve miles from tiie opening in the Roman wall agrees with the distance
in the Iter (a).
Pm'suing its appropriate course along Strathallan, the road came at the end
of nine miles to the Lindum of Richard's Itinerary, the well known station at
Ardoch, according to Roy. The many Roman remains in this vicinity prove
that it had been the active theatre of military operations during the successive
conflicts of the Roman period. The distance of the Itinerary of Richard and
the intimations of Gordon concur to show that the Victoria of Richard and
the camp at Dcdginross are the same (b) : placed in the upper part of Strath-
earn, the station of Victoria must have formed a very commodious defence to the
valley below (c). A short journey must have conducted the Roman armies
from Ardoch to the Hierna of Richard, the camp of Strageth upon the Earn.
The Roman road, after passing on the east side of Ardoch, ascends the moor
of Orchil to the post at Kemp's Castle, which it passes within a few yards on
the east (cZ). The road from Kemp's Castle descends the moor to the station of
(a) This station certainly derived its name from the river Allan, on which it stood, in the same
manner as Ituna was named, from Ithan, the Esica, from Esk. In the vicinit}' of this station there
were several British forts, called Caers, the remains of which are still extant, and are known in the
country by the appellation of Keir, a coiTuption of the British Caer, that signifies a fort. From one of
these the mansion-house and estate of Keir derive their names.
(i) Gordon's Itinerary, p. 40-42 ; Richard, 38, who assigns the distance of nine miles
from Lindum to Victoria ; Roy's Mil. Antiq., 128. In Richard's map the name of Victoria is
misplaced in the east instead of the west end of Strathearn. There is, indeed, in this map a
nameless station marked near the true position of Victoria to which the name should have been
applied. The fact is, as the remains evince, that Victoria lay eight miles on the left from the
direct course of the Roman road. At Lindum the Romans went off in a north-west direction
nine Roman miles to the Victoria of Richard, the Dealgin-Ross of Gordon. In prosecuting
their march northward they turned easterly nine Roman miles to their camp at Hierna, the
Strageth of modern times, which is only sis Roman miles in a direct line from Lindum, The truth
as is attested by facts, appears to be that the road and the Iter of Richard often took differ-
ent routes, as here at Ardoch and farther on at Orrea. Bede and Richard agree in saying
that Agricola founded Victoria as a memorial of his victory over Galgacus at the Grampian.
The following coincidences confirm theii- opinion: (1) The name of Victoria; (2) There is a
high stone which stands within the right gate ; (3) The tumuli or circle of stones which are
scattered about the plain show that this had been the busy scene of some signal miUtary
operations.
(c) Stobie's map of Perthshire ; Gordon's Itin., p. 42 ; Roy's Mil. Antiq., p. 128, and pi. xxxii.
{d) This is a small but strong fortification of an oblong form, about thirty yards long and twenty-
five yards broad. It is strengthened by a double ditch and triple ramparts ; and being placed on an
elevated situation, it commands an extensive prospect. Maitland's Hist. Scot., v. i., p. 195; Roys
Milit. Ant., pi. xsxi.
Vol. I. U
146 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Hierna at Strageth, from which it immediately crosses the river Earn (e). The
position of Strageth is pronounced by mihtary judgments to have been pecu-
harly well chosen, whether its site on the bank of the Earn or the facility of its
defence arising from the contiguity of the river be considered.
After the passage of the Earn, the road turns to the right (_/'), and in an
easterly direction passes on the north side of Inverpeftery, and proceeds nearly
in a straight line across the moor of Gask, where it is now used as the com-
mon road {g) ; and continuing its course through the plantations of Gask, it
(c) Maitland says the road intersects the Eoman camp at Strageth. Hist, of Scot., v. i., p. 196.
Eoy Games it past the west side of the camp at the same place. Milit. Antiq., p. 107. The reason
of this apparent difiference is that Maitland and Eoy allude to different camps. There was a laro-er
and a smaller Eomau camp at Strageth, through the former of which the road passed, leaving the
smaller camp upon the right hand, as stated by Eoy. The large camp at this place was over-
looked by Gordon and slightly noticed by Eoy. Gordon's Itiner., p. 42, pi. vii. ; Eoy's Milit. Antiq.,
p. 128, and p. xxxii, ; and see afterwards p. 136.
(/) From the great Eoman road near the passage of the Earn, on the north side, a vicinal way
diverged to the left, and went in a northerly direction through the country nearly seven miles to the
Eoman station at East Findoch on the river Alnaond. I was informed by the late inquisitive Colonel
Shand, who had inspected that vicinity with the eye of a soldier, after mentioning several vicinal
ways of the Eomans in Strathearn, " that there is one way of this kind twelve feet wide, which I have
" traced, and which in some places is very distinct, from the confluence of the Powaffray-water with
" the river Earn near Strageth, where the great Eoman road crosses the Earn, through the country north-
" ward to the plantations of Monzie, where there is the vestige of a strong post in the Eoman style,
'• from which post this vicinal way tm-ns to the right ; and I was told by some of the country people
" that it may still be seen in a few places running on past Connachan to the Eoman camp at
" East Findoch. This camp contains, as usual, about ninety acres Scots measure, and is advan-
" tageously situated in the mouth of Glen-Almond." Colonel Shand's letter to me, dated the 22nd
December, 1801. Stobie's map of Perthshire may be inspected with a view to that camp and way.
In the same letter Colonel Shand mentioned to me another vicinal road " ranning in a straight line
" from the confluence of Farg-water with the Tay towards Dunning and the house of Duncrub."
It remains almost perfect for more than a mile through the moorish ground called Muirmonth.
It is sixteen feet wide, raised considerably above the adjacent ground, and has a ditch on either
side of it. It is exactlj' the same in every respect as the other vicinal roads, except that it is
not paved.
{g) The Stat. Acco. of Trinity Gask, v. xviii., p. 486, says : " That the Eoman road or causeway
" passes along the highest ground in the parish. It is very compleat, and with little or no repau'
" serves for a public road. The stones of which it is made are pretty large, and are laid in good order.
"It is commonly dry in the wettest season." The Stat. Acco. of Gask, v. i., p. 481, says: "The
" Eomau causeway runs, through the middle of this parish on the highest ground. It is twenty feet
" broad, and is composed of rough ^tones closely laid together. It is in entire preservation, as the
" proprietor of the adjacent grounds, though he enclosed the fields on each side with stone dykes, did
" not suffer a stoue to be taken from the road. Along the causeway are stations capable of containing
'• ten or twelve men. They are enclosed by ditches, which are yet very distinct, and seem to have been
Cli. lY.—The Actions ofL. Ui-bicus.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. U7
passes a Roman camp on the right (h). At the distance of two miles farther
on, where the plantations of Gask terminate, this great road passes another
small post on the left (i). From this position the road proceeded forward in
a north-east direction to the station of Orrea, which is situated on the west
bank of the Tay, at the present confluence of the Almond with that noble
river {k). The commodiousness of the site before a part of the encampment
had been washed away by the floods of the Almond ; the correspondence be-
tween the distance of the Itinerary and the real distance, and the passage of the
Tay by the Roman road at this position, along a bridge which still may be
traced by remains, to a landing place, whence the Roman road proceeds ; all
those circumstances concur to show that the station at the confluence of the
Almond with the Tay was the Orrea of Richard (I).
"designed for the accommodation of the overseers of the work." For the policy of such small posts,
see King's Munimenta, v. ii.
(A) Stobie's map of Perthshire represents this camp in the same form, but of smaller dimensions
than the small camp at Strageth. The minister of Gask says, " it seems to have been capable of
"containing five hundred men:" the ditches \Tith the Pretorium are still distinct, though the
ground is planted with firs, being enclosed in the plantations of Gask. Stat. Acco., v. i., p. 481.
This camp is not noticed either by Maitland or by Boy. There is a paved way, twelve feet "
broad from the great road to this camp, says Colonel Shand in his letter to me of the 22d December,
1801.
(?) Stobie's Map of Perthshire ; Roy's Mil. Antiq., p. 107 ; and Stat. Acco. of Gask, v. i., p. 481. ;
and of Trinity Gask, v. xviii., 486.
(k) The Almond at present washes the south side of the station, and has carried away a part of the
works ; but this was not the course of it in ancient times, it ran past Euthven-oastle, now Hunting-
tower, where there is still a rivulet called Old Almond, and it joined the Tay about half a mile south-
ward of its present junction. Stat. Acco., v. xv., p. 528.
(/) Roy's Mil. Antiq., 128. See a drawing of Orrea in Roy's plate xii. The intelligent minis-
ter of Redgorton, the parish which claims this Roman station, remarks : " Another piece of
" antiquity is the continuation of the causeway, leading from the Roman camp of Ardoch, which
"crosses the Tay at its present conflux with the Almond. At this place there are the remains of
" a Roman station, regularly formed into a square, surrounded with a deep fosse, which has for
"some years been gradually washing away by the overflowing of the Almond. There have been
" dug up here several urns filled with human ashes, a Roman lac/nymator)/. and also a pig of lead,
" weighing about two stone, with Roman letters on it. The foundation of a wooden bridge
" which had been throvra over the Tay at this place still remains, and consists of large oak
" planks fastened together, coarsely jointed, and surrounded with clasps of iron. At the other
" end, be}'ond this bridge to the north-east, there are some remains of a causeway which ex-
" tends almost as far as Blairgowi-ie." Stat. Acco., v. xv., p. 527-8 ; Maitland's Hist, of Scot-
land, V. i., p. 199; Cant's Threnodie, p. 112. On the north bank of the river Almond, near its
influx into the Tay, there were dug up some Roman cinereal urns of yellow clay, and some fragments
of glass vessels of a blueish colour, which were presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Scot-
U2
M8 An ACCOUNT [Book l—T/ie Romm, Period.
From the important station of Orrea the Roman road and Richard's Itin-
erary took different directions ; and we may infer from this unnoticed cir-
cumstance that they belonged to difi'erent ages, or at least were composed with
dissimilar views. Having crossed the Tay by means of the wooden bridge,
the Roman road went up the east side of the river, and passed through the
centre of the camp at Grassy-walls [h). Fi'om this position the remains of
the road are distinct for a mile up to Gellyhead, on the west of which it
passed, and went on by Innerbuist to Nether- Collin, where it again becomes
apparent, and continues distinct to the eye for two miles and a half, passing
on in its obvious coiu-se to Drichmuir and Byres (/). The road now went
forward in a north-east direction, passing between Blairhead and Gil well to
Woodhead, and thence pushing on by Newbigging and Gallowhill on the
right, it descends Leyston-moor, and passing that village it proceeds forward to
the Roman camp at Coupar- Angus, which is about eleven and a half miles from
Orrea. The camp at Coupar appears to have been an equilateral quadrangle of
four hundred yards, fortified by two strong ramparts and large ditches, which
still remain on the east and south sides, and a part on the north side, but the
west side has been obliterated by the plough {m). From Coupar the Roman
road took a north-east direction towards Reedie in the parish of Airly. On
the south of this hamlet, the vestiges of the road again appear, and for more
than half a mile the ancient road forms the modern way in). The Roman
road now points towards Kirriemuir, past which it appears to have gone in
its course to the large Roman camp at Battle-dikes (o). Having traversed this
camp, the Roman road continued its progress in an east-north-east direction
for several miles along the valley on the south side of the river South-Esk,
which it probably passed near the site of Black-mill, below Esk-mount. From
land in March 1781. Acco. of the Society, p. 46. Richard, indeed, places the Orrea on the northern
bank of the Tay, in the countiy of the Vecturiones ; but the facts which have just been stated -would
over-rule a greater authority than Eichard's, with the classical aid of Ptolomy.
(i) Roy, p. 65, and pi. xii. (J) Stobie's map of Perthshire.
(m) Maitland's Hist., v. i., p. 199. The Stat. Acco. of Coupar-Angus, v, svii., p. 11, says:
" It is nearly a regular square of twenty-four acres." This camp seems not to have been noticed,
either by Gordon or by Roy. There is, indeed, a little more than one mile south of this camp, on
Camp-moor, another Roman camp, which Roy describes p. 67, and of which he gives a plan,
pi. xiv.
()i) Maitland's Hist. Scot., v. i., p. 200 ; Roy's Mil. Antiq., p. 108.
(o) Maitland's Hist. Scot., v. i., p. 200, says : " That John Webster, the farmer, who resided
" in and laboured this camp, turned up with the plough the foundation of this road, in divers parts,
" in its course through the camp which is now all converted into arable land."
Ch. lY.—The Actions of L. Ui-bicus.] OfNOETH-BEITxVIN. U9
this passage, it went across the moor of Brechin, where vestiges of it appear,
pointing to Keithock {q) ; and at this place there are the remains of a Roman
camp, which are now known by the modern name of Wardikes (■)•). Beyond
this camp on the north this Roman road has been seldom or never seen
even by inquisitive eyes. In the popular tradition this road is called the Lang
Causeway, and is supposed in popular belief to have extended northward
through Perth and Forfarshire, and even throughout Kincardine-shire to
Stonehaven. Legend imagines this Lawj Causeway to have been constructed by
the magic powers of Michael Scot even in one night, and it is therefore often
called Michael Scot's Causeway. The tradition, though not the legend, is
supported by remains. About two miles north-east from the Roman station
at Fordon, and between it and the well-known camp at Urie, there are the
traces of an artificial road as it crosses a small hill ; and it is popularly called
the Picts Road, an intimation which carries back its origin and construction to
ancient times (s).
There is indeed reason to believe that there are traces of roads which may
have been made by Roman hands even farther north. In Aberdeen-shire,
between the rivers Don and Urie, on the eastern side of Bennochie, there
exists an ancient road which is known in the country by the appropriate
name of the Maiden Causeway (t). It proceeds from Bennochie, whereon there
was a hill-fort, more than the distance of a mile into the woods of Pitodrie,
where it disappears from the most inquisitive sight ; it is paved with stones,
is about fourteen feet wide, and has every appearance of a vicinal way of the
Romans (u).
Even still more northerly in the track of the Tenth Iter, as it courses be-
tween the two stations of Varis and Tuessis, from Forres to the ford of Cromdale
on the Spey, there has been long known a road of very ancient construction ;
(5) Maitland, who lias the merit of having first traced this road, says, " that its vestiges point to
'■ Keithock."
(r) See a pLan of the camp at Wardikes, in Eoy's Milit. Antiq., pL xiv.
{s) In the same manner Severus's -wall, in the north of England, is called the Picts wall. The
intimations about the traces of the road in the text I owe to the intelligent letter of the Reverend
James Leslie, at Fordon, dated the 26th of March, 1799.
{t) Some of the Eoman roads in the north of England are distinguished by the same name of
Maiden Causeway.
(m) Such was the opinion of the late judicious Colonel Shand, who described this road to me
in his letter of the 22d December 1801. This Maiden-watj is on the west side of the ninth Iter,
on its course from the Don to the springs of Ithan, the station of Eae-dikes. If this way were
continued in its appropriate direction a mile beyond Pitodrie, it would join the tract of the Iter, near
tlie river Urie.
150 AnACCOUNT [Book l.—The Roman Period.
leading along the course of the Iter for several miles through the hills ; and
pointing to Cromdale, where the Romans must have forded the Spey. It ap-
pears to have heen judiciously laid out and substantially constructed ; it is not
now used, nor can the most intelligent persons of the country ascertain when
or by whom it was made (x). The track of this very ancient way on the
course of the tenth Iter, the mode of its construction, its unaccountable age
and modern desuetude, all these coincidences make it pi'obable that those sin-
gular remains were once a Roman road.
Various traces of very ancient roads are still discernible along the track of the
tenth Iter between the distant station of Tuessis and Tamea, by Corgarf and
through Braemar, as hath been already intimated. The tradition of the people
in Strathdee and Braemar declares, indeed, that there are remains of Roman
roads which traverse the country between the Don and the Dee. It is cer-
tain that there are obvious traces of ancient roads which cross the wild dis-
tricts between Sti-athdon and Strathdee, though it is impossible to ascertain
when, or by whom such ancient roads were constructed in such directions
throughout such a country (y). Such are the various notices which have been
(a;) The Reverend Jolin Grant of Elgin informed me in his letters, dated the 24th of October
and 6th of November, 1799, of the existence of such a road, from the infoimation of Captain
Grant, who was perfectly acquainted with that retired part of the country. I was thus induced
to make farther inquiries. And Mr. James Grant of Grantown. the manager of Sir James Grant's
extensive estates, informed me in his letter dated the 11th of March, 1800 ; "Last summer I
" observed two pieces of very ancient road, not now used ; one of them is some distance north from
" Castle Grant ; and the other further on, in a direction towards Forres ; upon making inquiry
" of the people who live in that country, I was informed that still farther on there are two or
" three pieces of a similar road leading through the hills towards Forres." The late intelligent Ro-
bert Grant, the old laird of Elchies, said to me in his letter, dated the 16th of July, 1800 ;
" There certainly is a very ancient road crossing the country in the direction you point out,
"(from Forres to the ford of Cromdale on the Spey) ; some part of it must have gone in the
" direction of the present military road which passes through Strathspey, and by the castles of
" Corgarf and Braemar to Glenshee." Such then are the informations of those very well-informed
persons. The tradition of the counti-y ascribes the construction of that very ancient road to the
Comyns of the 13th and 14th centuries ; but that powerful family were otherwise occupied during
times when the making of roads was unthought of ; the policy of those times would have rather
obstructed the making of passages into the interior of an impervious region.
{y) The Reverend Robert MacGregor, the missionary minister, in Glenmuick, Tulloch, and
Glengaini, says in his letter of the 6th of May 1801: "That a man eighty yeai-s old gave him
" a description of a Roman road which goes from the craigs of Ballater, near the influx of the
" Gairn into the Dee, aci-oss the country in a northern direction, towards Corgarf on the Don.
" This road first appears at a little distance north of the Dee, between Gairn-water on the west,
" and the burn of AUdowrie on the east, and the traces of it are distinctly seen at intervals,
Ch.lY.— The Actions of L.Urbkus.} OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 15 i
diligently collected from the most intelligent persons in those wild districts
with regard to those ancient roads which babbling tradition appropriates to
Roman times. It is, however, certain from every inquiry that the Romans did
not throughout Vespasiana make their roads with the massy materials which
they usually employed in similar works of greater stability.
We have now investigated with some precision the Iters and the Roads
which facilitated the communications of the Roman territories in Noi'th-Britain.
We have thus naturally conducted to a consideration of the Roman Stations
which secured the Romanized Britons and overawed the independent Caledo-
nians without the Roman limits. As the Romans originally entered the Caledonian
regions on the west, we ought to look for their earliest encampments along the
track of their first invasions. The fact attests the truth of this intimation. It
is along the course of the usual communications where we observe the most
early of the Roman works. On the Roman road from Carlisle through
Annandale we soon meet with the Roman station at Birrens, near Middleby,
which Horsley supposed to be the Blatum Bulgium of Antonine's Itinerary (y).
It is situated on a commodious flat upon the northern bank of the small river
Mein, having on its east side a rividet which here joins the Mein. It is of a
rectangular form, and is surrounded by five earthen ramparts and four fosses,
a part whereof have been carried away by the floods of the river that- once
formed its ornament and strength {z). As we might easily expect, many
Roman antiquities have been successively discovered at this station where the
" throughout the country almost to Corgarf, a distance of about nine miles. The place where it
"is most distinctly seen is at the well of Glaschoil, a few miles from Corgarf." He adds that
Captain M'Donald of Gardensdale shewed him another ancient road higher up in the country
which fii'st appears near the chapel of Abergeldie, and proceeds northward along the hill Gea-
laig towards Einetton, by Sleadhach, towards Corgarf, the whole extent being about twelve miles.
These roads, he remarks, go by the name of Roman in the language of those who know them.
William Farquharson, the laird of Monaltrie, informed me in his letter of the 31st January, 1800 :
" I have heard of a way near my house of Ballater called the Roman road ; and James Catenach,
"the schoolmaster of that district, tells me in his letter that there is a place near the bum of
"TuUich or Altdowrie called the Roman Causewaj." Mr. Farquharson supposes this to be
the continuation of the same way called the Roman road near his house of Ballater. Both Mi-.
Farquharson and Mr. Catenach allude to the same road which was first mentioned above by
Mr. MacGregor as going from the craigs of Ballater northward between Altdowrie and Gaim-
water.
(i/) Brit. Eomana, p. 114-15. Eoy says he has done so with good reason. Milit. Antiq., 118.
(«) See a plan and section of this station in Eoy's Milit. Antiq., pi. xxiv. ; and see Pennant's Tour,
V. iii., p. 90 ; Maitland's Hist., v. i., p. 191 ; Gordon's Itin., p. IG, pi. i., and addit., p. 27.
152 A N A C C 0 U X T [Book l.—The Roman Period.
Romans no doubt remained till their ultimate abdication (o). North-westward
from Birrens nearly three miles the Romans placed two camps on the side
of Burrenswark-hill, the summit whereof had been previously occupied by a
British strength. This is obviously the Trimontium of the ninth Iter of Richard,
as we have already seen (h). The antiquaries are not agreed by whom those
Roman camps were placed on the commanding site of Burrenswark-hill, yet
it is probable that the Roman genius was first attracted by the Selgov^ fort,
and was afterwards induced to place successively two camps on the declivity of
this hill by its commodious position. Un the Torwood-moor, about four and
a half miles north-west from Burrenswark-hill, on the left of the Roman road
half a mile, there are mutilated remains of a large camp. The greatest part
of one side, with its two gates, and a portion of each end remain entire. Such
was its extent that it would have contained ten thousand men (c). As it was
somewhat dissimilar in its structure from the Roman camps on Burrenswark-hiU,
it was probably formed by the Roman hands of a different age. In Upper
Annandale, at Tassieshohn, there are the remains of a redoubt and a large
entrenchment, which were probably constructed here by the Roman armies
on their march for a temporaiy accommodation (d). In the parish of Moffat,
near tlie Roipan road, there are the remains of some large Roman camps,
which can still be distinctly traced after so many years of waste (e). Besides
those larger stations, the Romans established within Annandale sundry smaller
posts, along the course of the Roman road if). On the eminence of Galla-
herry standing in the centre of the extensive holm between the Annan and
the Dryfe, there is another small Roman post {g). On the Roman road below
(a) Gordon's Itin., p. 18; Horsley's Brit. Rom., 207, 341, pi. n°7, ssxii., pi. n°7, sxsiv. ; Pennant,
V. iii., p. 90-3, and v. ii., p. 406 ; Eoy, p. 119 ; and see tlie Trans, of the Antiq. Soc. Scot., p. 55-166,
for the several antiquities which were found here and presented to that Society by the late Dr. Clap-
perton and Mr. A. Copland of Colheston.
(i) Book i., ch. 2. (c) Eoy, p. 61 and pi. vii.
id) lb., p. 01, pi. viii. The minister of Kirkpatriok-Juxta mentions the post at Tassieshohn, and
describes some antiquities which have been found in his vicinity. Stat. Acoo., v. iv., p. 552.
(e) lb., V. ii., p. 288.
(/) Beyond the Milk there are the remains of a Roman post which is called Malls-Castle. Roy,
pi. XXV. North-westward from this post, on the south-west of Lockerby, there is a similar post
near the great station on Torwood-moor towards the east. There is another Roman post on the
western extremity of Torwood-moor near the Roman road. Half a mile fui'ther north there
is a similai- post. From the village of Berngall, on the east side of the Annan, there is a small
Roman post on a height which stands opposite to a British fort on an adjacent eminence. lb., v. ix.,
p. 425, which speaks of warlike weapons and ancient armour that have been frequently found here.
See Roy, pi. xxv.
(0) M.
Ch. IN.— The Actions of L. Urbicus.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 153
Wamphray, there is a small Roman post at Girthhead (h). At Cartertown
in the parish of Hutton there is a small Roman camp, which was probably
placed here for the purpose of muffling and overawing several British forts
that are perched on the surrounding heights ; it may have also served as a
post of communication between Annandale and Eskdale, where the Romans
had several stations.
On the angle between the great branches of the Esk a little above their
junction, the Romans had a station, the remains whereof are now called Castle-
over or Overby, in contradistinction to the post of Netherby on the Lower
Esk, whence a Roman road has been traced throughout Eskdale to Castleover.
Such was the advantage of Castleover that it completely commanded Upper
Eskdale. On this position there was previously a large British fort, which
was surrounded by a number of smaller strengths, that were placed on the sum-
mits of the heights for several miles around (i). It is more than probable
that Castleover was the Corda of Ptolomy, a town of the Selgovse, wliich he
places where this is found on the northern extremity of their territories. In
lower Eskdale, three quarters of a mile eastward from Gilnocky, there are the
remains of another Roman station, near which a variety of Roman coins and
sculptured stones have been discovered by excavation (k). Still lower in
Eskdale the Roman stations were the well known post at Netherby, and a
smaller post at Liddel Moat, both which are on the English side of the divid-
ing Esk.
In Nlthsdale no considerable Roman stations have yet been discovered,
except the camp on the declivity of Wardlaw-hill, the C/k-e^^wm of Ptolomy and
Richard. This has been already noticed among the operations of Agricola, by
whom it is supposed to have been constructed near the Selgovee town of Uxellum.
On the Roman road which went athwart Annandale and along the eastern
part of Nithsdale into Strath-Clyde there were several small stations ; particu-
larly a post near Amisfield-house, and another in the remarkable pass lying
northward of Durisdeer Church ; both wliich still appear in their distinct
(A) Roy, p. 104. Upon the Roman Road along the east side of the Annan, in Upper Annandale,
there are the remains of several small posts of the Roman armies, which had been here constructed on
their successive marches. Stat. Acco., v. ii., p. 288.
(i) Stat. Acco., V. xii., p. 614 ; lb., xi., p. 528 ; and Crawford's map of Dumfriesshire. Both on
the summit of a height, and on the lower ground below, to the southward of Cagtle-Over, there are the
vestiges of entrenchments, one line running southward and the other east towards the bank of the Esk.
Roy, p. 120. See a plan of Castle-Over in Roy, pi. xxvi.
{k) Stat. Acco., V. xiv., p. 421.
Vol. I. X
liVl An account [Book I.— The Eomin Perwd.
remains (1). At Kirkmichael, between Annandale and Nithsdale, there was
a small Roman station, the site whereof now forms the minister's garden.
A vicinal way led oft' to it from the Roman road as it passed through Niths-
dale (n). Though from this great road a Roman way branched off which
pushed up the vale of Scar river towards Ayrshire, yet the only Roman
post which has been discovered on the western side of the Nith is the small
station of Tibhers Castle, opposite to the point whence the Roman road turns
northward up Carron-water towards Clydesdale (o).
The Roman stations which have hitherto been discovered in Galloway from
the Nith westward to Whithorn, have already been described in giving
an account of the operations in that extensive country of its first invader. We
have found many footsteps of the Romans in Galloway, but scarcely any in
Ayrshire ; and these curious circumstances attest more satisfactorily than the
brief narration of Tacitus, that Agricola entered Galloway from the south, and
not from the north as antiquaries have supposed.
We are now to pass into Clydesdale, another great scene of Roman transac-
tions. Here also shall we find almost all the stations lying along the track
of the Roman road or in its immediate vicinity. On the sources of this great
river we may see at Little Clyde, in the parish of Crawford, the remains of a
Roman post placed upon the northern declivity of Erickstane-brae (p). This is
obviously the long sought for Gadenica, the town of the Damnii. The ininister
of Crawford claims for his parish the honour of having three Roman posts within
it (2) ; but he can only be allowed Gadenica, the other two strengths being
merely the circular hill-forts of the British people. A few miles lower down
we come to an undoubted remain of a Roman post, as its square form evinces,
near the Roman road between Catchapel and Littlegill in the parish of La-
mington (r). The minister indeed mentions a Roman post on Arbor-hill (s) ;
but this also is only a British hill-fort, as its remains attest. About seven
"miles below, near the Roman road and between it and Culter-water opposite
to Nisbet, there is an undoubted remain of Roman construction, square in its
(Z) lb., V. i., p. 165 ; Eoy, 105. To this station, whose remains are still distinct, Roy and Ainslie
tave mistakingiy applied the name of Tihbers Castle, which is, in fact, the name of a very different
station distant five miles southward on the west side of the Nith.
(?i) Stat. Acco., V. i., p. 64.
(o) See a plan of Tibber's Castle in Eoy, pi. xlix., and Crawford's map of Dumfriesshire for its
position.
{p) Eoy, p. 104. ((j) Stat. Acco., v. iv., p. 514.
(»■) Eoy, p. 104 ; and Eoss's map of Lanarkshire. {s) Stat. Acco., v. vi., p. 557.
Cli. V^.— The Actions of L. Urhicns.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 155
form, and capacious in its contents [t). From this station two miles and a
half west-north-west beyond the Clyde, above the village of Symington, there
are the distinct remains of two Roman camps («). From the station on Culter-
water about two miles northward there is the remain of another Roman camja,
as its square form and its location near the Roman road attest; it stands between
the road and the river where the Clyde makes a remarkable turn opposite to
Biggar. From this station north-east a mile and a half there is another Ro-
man post near Biggar on the west, which is now called the Moat ; and this
camp was obviously intended to command the communication between the
Clyde and Tweeddale (x). Below Biggar nine miles there is a Roman station,
which has acquired the appropriate name of Castledyhes, through which passed
the Roman road {y). Horsley says, indeed, that this station had a large fort
with many buildings, which were even then to be seen, and where urns and
coins have been discovered by excavation (z). In this vicinity, as all the co-
incidences evince, was situated the long-sought for Coria, the town of the
Daranii, and of the conjectures of the antiquaries ; as, indeed, we have per-
ceived in tracing the ninth Iter of Richard, which calls for it as a commodious
stage. From the station at Castledykes two miles there is a large Roman
camp on the north side of the Mous river, between Cleghorn and Stobbylee.
This camp is nearly six hundred yards distant from the Roman road on the
east ; and from its vicinity to Castledykes we may suppose that it was not a
permanent station (a). On the south side of the Mous there are the vestiges
of another camp on Lanark-muir ; but as there can be traced only a part of
the entrenchments on one of the sides and a part of one of its ends, its ori-
ginal size cannot easily be ascertained (6). At Lanark, wliich is nearly three
miles from Castledykes, and two miles from the track of the Ptoman road,
Roy supposes that the Romans had a station, and the Damnii a town, the
Colania of Ptolomy and Richard. But no remain has yet been discovered
which would confer the honour of a station on Lanai'k, a shire-town ; and the
Colania of the Damnii stood undoubtedly on Little Clyde, as we have seen in
(t) Id., and Ross's map. (m) See Boss's map for their positions.
(x) See Roy, and Ainslie's map.
(y) See a plan of Cfiftledijke.i and of tlie adjacent country in Roy, pi. xsvii. Many remains,
such as pottery, coins, bricks, and a bath, have here been discovered, which indicate this to have
been a station of great note and long endurance. Stat. Acco., v. xviii., p. 180; v. xv.. p. 10. Roy, p.
104.
{£) Brit. Rom., p. .367.
(a) Roy, p. 62 and pi. ix. He says its dimensions are 610 yards long and 430 broad, and that it
^as not a permanent camp.
{b) See Roy's pi. ix. and the Stat. Acco., v. xv.. p. 10.
X 2
155 A tJ ACCOUNT [Book l— The Roman Period.
our progress (c). Proceeding down the vale of Clyde, from Castledykes four-
teen miles we find another Roman station on the east bank of the river below
the church of Dalziel. This station is distant more than a mile from the Ro-
man road on the left which goes on to the Roman wall (d). Below this station
nearly two miles there is a small Roman post on the banks of the river Calder,
which seems to have been intended to protect tlie ford, as the road passed the
Calder at this place (e) Below the post at Calder ten miles there is supposed
to have been a station, whence a road pretty certainly diverged to Paisley (f).
The road we have traced, but this doubtful station has been lost for ever.
The fact is that the Roman wall came too near to the site of Glasgow to
require a station, and being within the Roman province and near the Roman
sentinels, the ford at Glasgow could be safely passed without a protecting post;
nor has any Roman station yet been found, where none was requisite, between
Glasgow and the wall.
But no one has ever denied to Paisley the honour of a Roman station at
Vanduaria, a town of the Damnii. Sir R. Sibbald and Horsley speak of the
visible remains of a Roman station at this busy place. The expansion of the
town and the cultivation of the countiy have almost obliterated the Roman
remains. The bowling-green, however, on the commanding height, is said by
tradition to denote the Prcetorium of the Roman fort. The British name of
the Damnian town seems obviously to have been derived from the vicinity of
the White-Caixt to which the station extended ; Wen-dur signifying in the
British the tvhite water; and this Celtic appellation was easily latinized by the
Romans into Vanduar-ia ; as Esc was converted into Esica, and Alan into Alauna
(g). Beyond Paisley on the west no Roman station has yet been found, though
some roads have been traced and coins and armour have been found, as we
have seen. It was the opinion of the learned Mr. David Buchanan, says Sir R.
(c) See Eoy, p. 122, where lie says, without authority, "that the Castlehill is indisputably a Boman
" fort ; for here and in the adjacent fields coins have been found, particularly a medal of Faustina."
But this castle was merely baronial, and coins might well be found where so many Eomans dropt them.
See Stat. Acco., v. xv., p. 12.
(rf) See Eoss's map of Lanarkshire.
(e) A little more than twenty years ago, said the minister of Dalziel in 1792, this fort was pretty
entire, but cultivation has now gi-eatly encroached upon it. Stat. Acco., v. iii., p. 458.
(/) But for this station and road Eoy relies on the obscure intimation of Gordon the tourist, who
was not much to be trusted. Milit. Antiq., IOC.
(g) In the beginning of the last century there existed at Paisley the remains of a large Eoman
camp, with its Pretorium, on the rising ground called Oakshawhead, which overlooks the sur-
rounding country and the town of Paisley. The Pretorium was not large, but was well fortified
Ch. lY.—r/ie Action.'^ of L. Urlncus.'] 0 r IT 0 E T H - B I? I T A I N . 157
Sibbald, that there was a Roman camp on the Clyde where New-Glaso-ow
stands, and where appeared the vestiges of a tower ; but no such camp has yet
appeared to more accurate eyes, and the tower to wliich he alludes was either
the old castle of Newark, or the eastern castle of Greenock, that he idly mis-
took for a Roman post (h).
If we pass, however, from Biggar, through the natural opening of the
country, into Tweeddale, we shall discover Roman stations. The principal post
in this country was the Roman camp at Lyne church, about ten miles east-
ward from the Roman position at Biggar, the guard of the natural road into
the interior country. This camp was placed upon a rising ground, on the east-
ern side of the river Lyne, in a kind of amphitheatre, which is surrounded by
hills. It is of an oblong form, and was defended by three strong ramparts
and two large fosses, having a regular entrance on each of its sides ; on the
west it was further defended by a bank forty feet high, along which flowed
the Lyne ; the same bank and the river continued round the south side,
though at a greater distance, the trench of the camp being a hundred and fifty
yards from the top of the bank, which was artfully scarped away to augment
the strength of the defences (i). The minister of Lyne says, that the road lead-
ing to the camp visibly runs through the present glebe (k). Neither Roy nor
Park speak of this road ; yet, Armstrong, the surveyor of Peeblesshire, men-
tions a redoubt and a causeway on the eastward of the station (I). Pennicuik
was the first who published any notice of this station. In speaking of Lyne,
with three fosses and ramparts of earth, which were then so high that men on horseback could not
see over them. The camp itself, says Mr. William Dunlop, who was the Principal of the College
of Glasgow, and royal historiographer, " took in all the rising ground, and by the vestiges seems
" to have reached to the Cart. Upon the north side the agger or rampart goeth along the foot of the
" hill, and if it be allowed to go as far upon the other side, it hath inclosed all the ground
" upon which the town of Paisley standeth, which may be reckoned about a mUe in circuit." The
fonn of this camp appears to have been much the same with the Roman camp at Ardoch. In the
vicinity of this station there are two small posts, somewhat larger than the Pretorlum of the large
camp, but of the same form, the one on the west upon the lands of Woodside, and the other on the
south upon the lands of Castlehead, each about half a mile from the large station. The description
of Eenfrewshire, as quoted by Sir Eobert Sibbald, Eoman Antiq., p. 36 ; and Orawfurd's Hist, of
Renfrewshire, p. 5, on the same point.
(A) Eom. Antiq., 38.
(0 This description is chiefly given from an accurate survey of this station, which was made by
Mr. Mungo Park, in October 1802. Both Gordon and Eoy represent the parallel sides as of equal
length, but the difference in Mi-. Park's measurement may be owing to the imperfect state of the
remains. Eoy's measurement is 850 feet long and 770 feet broad, including the ramparts. The
interior area, extending to between six and seven Scots acres, has been often ploughed, when coins are
said to have been found. Stat. Acco., v. xii., p. 9 and 564.
(/•) Id. (/) Companion to the Map, 64.
158 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
he says, " here is to be seen the remauis of a large camp, near half a mile in
" circuit, which is strongly fenced with dry and double ditches, and which
" the people call to this day Randal's walls {in)." From the central situa-
tion of this Roman camp, in the middle of Tweeddale, it must have commanded
the whole country ; and it is curious to remai'k that, even in the present times,
the great roads leading from Strath-clyde on the west, from Selkirk and Rox-
burgh on the east, from the Lothians on the north, and from Dumfriesshire
on the south-west, all meet at a central point three quarters of a mile east of
Lyne (n). In Tweeddale, which had its communication with Clydesdale, and
could thus command the interior, there have been discovered by active curi-
osity, some other Roman camps, but of less consequence than Randal's Walls.
From this station, distant nine miles in Linton parish, there is a Roman camp,
at Upper Whitefield on the north ; it is in the form of a parallelogi-am, and
its dimensions and area, says Gordon, are much the same as the well-known
camp at Ardoch (o). The minister of Manor claims the honour of a Roman
camp for his parish, which he supposes to be pretty enthe, and to exist near
a tower upon an eminence commanding a most extensive view {p). Armstrong,
who was also ambitious of R,oman discoveries, could not find any Roman camp
in Manor parish {q).
In the wild country of Ettrick forest, which long after Roman times was
covered with wood, there has not yet been explored any Roman post. The
Romans, however, seem to have delighted to hunt, in this well-stocked forest.
(til) Description of Tweeddale, 1715, p. 19: "It got this name says Annstrong, from a popular
" tradition, tliat the famous Randolph, the Earl of Murray, had a house in the area." Companion to
the Map of Peebles, p. 65. Gordon fu'st gave a plan of this camp. Itin. pi. lii. Eoy gives a drawing
of this camp. Milit. Antiq., pi. xxviii.
(«) There are the remains of several British forts on the heights around this Eoman station, within
the circuit of a few miles, particularly one on Hamildun-hill, on the north, one on east Happrew,
on the south, one on Hound-hill, one on Caver-hill, and the vestiges of others on other
heights.
(o) Itin. Septent., 114 ; Armstrong's Comp. to the Map of Peebles, 59. Gordon, who eagerly
•connects this camp with the name of Romaruw in the neighbourhood, says, this camp is only one mile
north-west from that place ; but in fact, it is at least three and a half statute miles northward of
Romanno, where Armstrong the surveyor could find no vestige of any Eoman works. Companion, 74.
{p) Some years ago a Eoman urn and some ancient coins were here discovered by the plough.
Stat. Acco., V. iii., p, 388. The tower which is alluded to above, is no doubt the lofty ruin on a steep
knoll, called Castle-hill, on the west side of Manor-water, above Manor-town.
{q) He found, however, in this parish, what he might have seen every where, British hill-forts in
several parts of Manor parish. Comp. to the Map, and his Map of Peeblesshire. Near Traquaii-, on
the southern side of the Dale, an octangular vase of brass, which is doubtless of Eoman workmanship.
Ch. IV.— The Actions of L. Urbicus.'] Of NOETH-BKITAIN. 1.59
In a moss near Selkirk there have been found the skulls of the urus, with a
Eoman spear, which seems to have been used in killing those powerful animals (r).
Within the modern limits of Selkirkshire there was indeed a Roman post in
Eoberton parish for overawing the circumjacent forts of the British people in
western Teviotdale.
The same policy dictated to the Roman officers the establishment of some
posts in Ldddesdale. On the farm of Fhght, near the old castle of Clintwood, is
a Eoman fort, which is surrounded by two ramparts of earth. The remain is of
a square form, extending a hundi-ed and sixty-eight feet on every side. It was
obviously placed here to oppose a British hill-fort, which still appears in its
vicinity. In the south-west of Liddesdale there was placed on the commodious
side of a hUl another Roman post, which was surrounded by a rampart eighteen
feet high. It was plainly opposed to the British fort on Carbyhill (s). These
two Roman posts, the one on the east and the other on the west, probably
commanded the narrow district of Liddesdale.
Teviotdale exhibits many more remains of Eoman posts than the foregoing
districts, as it was much more populous, and as it was intersected by the Eoman
road which came dowai from Northumberland by the name of the Watling Stree{,
and passed upward through Lauderdale. At Bonjedworth, on the angle be-
tween the Jed and Teviot, there are some vestiges of a Eoman station near the
course of the Eoman road (a). On the border of Maxton parish there are the
conspicuous remains of a Eoman camp {b). On the west of the E,oman road,-
after it has passed the river Kail, there is also a Eoman post (c). Between
Bedrule and Newton, a mile eastward from Eule water, there is a Eoman post'
of a square form, which is surrounded by a fosse and rampart. It overlooks a
British fort which opposes it about half a mile on the west {d). In the parish
of Cavers, amidst several British strengths, there is a Eoman post which ob-
structed their ancient influence. "Within the parish of Eoberton, on the
was fouud, and presented by the Earl of Traquair to tlie Antiquary Society of Edinburgh. Acco. of
this Society, p. 555.
(?•) Those remains were presented to the Antiquaiy Society of Edinbui'gh. Stat. Acco., v. ii., p. 448.
(i) Stat. Acco., V. xvi., p. 83. On the farm of Shortbut-trees in this vicinity were dug out of a moss
some copper and brass vessels of antique construction, which were given to the Duke of Buccleuch.
lb., 80. From the many matters of Eoman manufacture which have been dug from the bottom of
mosses, we might infer that those mosses did not exist in Eoman times.
(a) Eoy, p. 102. Ainslie represents a Eoman camp on the angle of the two great branches of the
Jed on the south side of Teviotdale.
(b) Stat. Acco., V. x., p. 294. (c) Ainslie's map of Scotland. (d) Stat. Acco., v. xv., p. 563.
160 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The lioman Period.
Borthwick water, there is a camp which the country people call Africa, and
which was judiciously placed amid several forts of the Britons on the surrounding
heights (e). At the Eldon hills in northern Teviotdale the Romans had a
considerahle station below, while there was a large forti'ess of the British people
on the summit above [f). It has, indeed, been supposed that the Romans
merely converted the British strengths into a stronger work [g). The Romans
did certainly convert several British forts into more defensible posts, where the
situations were advantageous ; but their permanent stations were more com-
modiously placed than on steejjy crags. Their station here appears to have been
situated at the northern base of the hill near Melrose (h). Around the British
strength on the Eldon hills, which seems to have been of commanding force,
there appears to have been several British forts of smaller size. Some of these
the Romans converted into more defensible posts. Sudi was their fort on
Caldshiels hill, two miles west-south-west of the Eldon hills (i). The smaller
strengths of Row-chester at Kippila-mains, and Black-chester, southward of
Glarilaw, appear also to have been converted from British forts to Roman
posts. Row-chester is two miles and Black-chester three and a half miles south-
ward of Eldon hills (JS).
(e) lb., V. xi., p. 545. (/) Roy, pi. xxi., wliicli gives a view of the surrounding country.
{(j) Milne's Melrose, p. 45.
(Ji) lb., 44-5. There have been many Roman coins found here. Id. There are, indeed, some
traces of entrenchments near the village of Eldon. Roy, 116. And there are some other further
northward near Melrose. The Watling-Street went past this station in its course northward beyond the
Tweed.
{{) This fort is nearly of a square form, 200 yards long and 180 yards broad, having the corners
rounded off. The area, extending to more than seven acres, is surrounded by an earthen rampart and
fosse, and another rampart and fosse encompass the hill about fifty feet below. The Romans added a
square redoubt on the south side extending to about half an acre, which was defended by a rampart
and fosse. Mi'. Kinghom's MS. Survey in Februar}', 1803.
(Jc) The post of Eow-chester, which stands on a gentle eminence, is in the form of a parallelogram,
having the angles rounded. It was fortified by a strong rampart and large fosse, enclosing an area
of two and a half acres. Mr. Kinghorn's MS. Survey. Eow-chester is also the name of a Roman
fort near Severus's wall ; Roe-ohester is the name of the Roman station in Reedsdale ; and Ro-
chester in Kent derives its name from a Roman fort. The Bow, Ro, Roe are probably the
English forms of the Scottish Raw, Ra, Rae, as we see the word in Rae-dikes, the Roman
camp at Urie, and also the Roman camp at Glenmeilin. The word is probably derived from the
British Rha and Gaelic Ra, signifying a fortified place, a fort. The L-ish Ratfis have the same
origin, the (th) being quiescent. Black-chester is situated on a gentle eminence northward of the Ale
water. It is also a parallelogram, with the angles rounded. It was defended b}' a strong rampart and a
double ditch. It was considerably larger than Row-chester at Kippilaw mains. Mr. Kinghom's MS.
Survey.
Ch. IV.— The Actions of L. Urbiai.<:.^ OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 161
These three strengths were connected by a military road of a smgular kind,
which runs from the strength on Caldshiels hill south-south-east nearly three
miles to the post of Row-chester, and from it south-east a mile and a half to the
camp of Black-chester. This military road was mentioned by Milne in 1743,
and by the minister of Bowden lately (I). It is described by Mr. Kinghorn,
who surveyed it in 1803, as being in general about forty feet broad, but in some
places fifty, where the unevenness of the ground required such a breadth. It
was plainly formed by scooping the earth from the sides, an operation which
left the middle high ; there is a ditch on each side from twelve to twenty-eight
feet wide, whence the earth was thrown up so as to form a mound on the
outside of the excavation. No part of this road appears to have been paved
with stones. It does not go straight forward, but in several places takes a
bend (m). This remain is so different from all the Roman Roads in North-
Britain, that it is not easy to suppose it to have been constructed by Roman
hands. It may have been the work of the Romanized Britons during their
struggles after the Roman abdication. When they reoccupied their strengths,
on that sad occasion, they may have imitated the policy of the Romans in
connecting their posts by a military way upon a plan that was adapted to their
own purpose. Unlike the Roman roads this military work appears to have
answered all the uses of a covered way. This singular work is in some
respects similar to the Catrail which runs athwart the country in a similar
direction, but considerably to the westward of this covered way. The Catrail
in its perfect state must have resembled a lane with a high rampart of earth on
either side ; it was thus obviously intended as a work of defence, though it
may have also answered the useful purpose of a covered way. The object of
the military road before mentioned appears to have been to furnish a defensible
passage between those neighbouring strengths. It was probably formed at an
earlier period than the Catrail, when the Romanized Britons had been driven
back from the country through which it passes. It is remarkable that though
this military road leads directly up to the strength on Caldshiels hill and to the
fort of Black-chester, yet it passes Row-diester at the distance of four hundred
yards westward, sending off two branches, one to the south and the other to the
north side of the fortress. This circumstance shows clearly that this work was
intended as a covered way between those several strengths. From slight
appearances this remarkable work is supposed to have crossed the Ale water
(/) Account of Melrose, p. 48 ; Stat. Account, v. xvi., p. 240.
(»«) The minister of Bowden says that various warlike weapons have at different times been du? up
in the vicinity of this work and in the adjacent mosses. Stat. Account, v. xvi.. p. 240.
Vol. I. T
162 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period
soutliward to a strength on Bewlie hill, and from thence south-eastward a mile
and a half to the ancient fort above Rawflat on the height. From Caldshiels
hill two miles northward there is the strength of Castlesteads on a gentle
eminence at Kidside. From Castlesteads a similar covered way to that above
described, if not the same, has been traced westward nearly a mile to the
Netherbarnford on the Tweed, and it seems even to have here passed the river
into the country beyond it, though the occupations of peace have obliterated
what the results of war had constructed (n).
From the British fort on Eldon hills to the strength on Caldshiels hUl west-
ward two and a half miles, there are a fosse and rampart which appear to have
been carried throughout the distance between those fortresses as a defensible
bovmdary. The fosse was dug from twelve to fifteen feet broad, and nine or
ten feet deep ; the rampart was formed of the earth which was thrown up from
the ditch upon the north side, to which the ground throughout the distance
natvu'ally slopes (o). This defensible boundary, like Herrit's dike, extending
from Lauderdale to Berwick, is to be referred probably to the Romanized
Britons at the epoch of the Roman abdication, and with other remains of a
similar nature, somewhat illustrate the darkest period of the British annals.
With the Wailing Street, we now pass from the interesting district of Teviot-
dale into the vale of the Leader, the Lauderdale of more recent times. We here
may see the Roman post of Chestei'lee three and one half miles up the dale, west-
ward of the Leader half a mile. This strength forms a square of one hundred
and sixty yards on either side, with the angles rounded off to suit the position.
Chesterlee was defended by a double fosse and a strong rampart of earth which
cultivation has levelled. A part of the area has been planted. Standing on an
eminence, this Roman post overlooks several strengths of the Britons in the
circumjacent country. From Chesterlee westward five hundred yards was
placed the smaller station of Ridgeivalls, which from its gentle eminence com-
manded several forts of the Britons, both on the north and on the south. The
Roman post of Ridgewcdls is of an oblong rectangular form, and was defended
by three fosses and earthen ramparts. The interior area measures eighty-five
yards long and thirty -seven yards broad {p). In Lauderdale, along the course
of the Watling Street there were several British hill-forts, which were converted
by Roman art into defensible posts. At Old Lauder was such a post, which
was defended by a fosse and rampart. And from it led down a military road
(n) Milne's Melrose, 55-5 ; Mr. Kingdom's MS. Survey,
(o) Milne's Melrose, 46 ; Kinghom's MS. Surve}', 1803.
{p) Both Chesterlee and Eidgewalls were surveyed by Mr. Kinghorn in November, 1803.
Ch. TV.— The Actions of L. Urbicus.] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 163
to the Watling Street at some distance eastward. Farther up the dale, two
miles from Old Lauder, there was the British fort of Black- Chester, which was
obviously converted by Roman policy into a defensible post ; as it was advan-
tageously situated on the Watling Street; and as it overlooked several strengths
of the Britons in the circumjacent country (p). But the Roman station of
greatest consequence in this district is the camp at Channelkirk in Upper
Lauderdale . This station appears to have been of considerable extent, though
cultivation has obscured its magnitude. The church, chm-chyardj and the
minister's glebe, of Channelkirk, containing nearly five acres, are comprehended
in the area of this singvUar camp [r).
If from Lauderdale we turn to the right into the Merse, we shall find the
most considerable station of the Romans in this district at Chester-knows. It
stands on the bank of the White Adder, eight miles west-north-west from
Berwick, and five miles east from Dunse. It was of an oblong rectangular
form ; the length being from east to west along the river ; and it was defended
by a triple line of ramparts, which have all yielded to the repeated attacks of
the husbandman (s). The only other Roman station which time and chance
have yet discovered in Berwickshire is a small post on St. Abb's head, ten
miles north-north-east from Chester-knoivs. While this post possesses the
eastern extremity of the height, a British strength occupies the western at the
distance of half a mile. Further westward three furlongs there was another
British strength, which, with the former, were both commanded by the Roman
post (t).
From St. Abb's head along the coast to Inveresk, no Roman camp has yet
been discovered, whatever antiquaries may have supposed (w). The minister
(q) I owe tliose notices to Mr. Kinghom's Survey in November, 1803.
(r) In the vrest side there was a gate, which was obviously covered by a traverse, and a remark-
able redoubt projects from the south-west angle. Eoy, p. 61, pi. vi. ; and Mr. Kinghom's MS. Survey
in 1803.
(*■) The ramparts remained pretty entire till 1765, when they were inspected by Dr. Anderson, the
minister of the parish. Stat. Account, v. xiv., p. 32-3. At this station was foimd, by excavation,
a Eoman moletrina in 1796. lb., 45-50. From Chesterknows, at some distance northward, was
discovered in 1788 a Eoman sepulchre of considerable magnitude on Billiemire in the parish of Chim-
side. Id., 30-1.
(t) See Blackadder's map of Berwickshire. Ainslie has somewhat misplaced this Eoman post, and he
seems to have gone beyond his authorities in carrying up to it the Eoman road, though the Eomana
must have had a way to their post.
(") Maitland speaks of a tradition which placed a Eoman camp at Dunbar, where no remains
have been found ; and the Statistical Account is silent, though it particularizes every ancient remain.
164 An ACCOUNT [Bookl.— The Eoman Period.
of Humbie mentions, indeed, that a Eoman Castellum is still to be seen on the
lands of Whiteburgh. This fort, .which occupies more than an acre of ground,
stands on a lofty summit in the western parts of this parish. It is of a circular
form, and is defended by three walls, which are at the distance of fifteen feet
from each other, and which are built of large stones with cement at the founda-
tion of each. He considers this circular hill-fort, thus surrounded by walls of
stone, as a Roman castle, Ijecause there have been found in it a medal of Trajan,
a fibula, a patera, and the horn of a mouse deer (x). But might not a British
chief have carried all these into his stronghold as the spoils of war or the gifts
of peace ? This castle is not more than three and a half miles east-north-east
from the Itinerary station of Carrie on the Gore water, a town of the Gadeni.
Mid-Lothiau much more abounds in Roman antiquities. The Roman ofiicers
seem to have had many villas along its salubrious shore. At Fisherrow, at
Musselburgh, at Inveresk, many Roman remains have been found at various
times; and these show that the Romans had a post at Fisher-row, and a post at
Inveresk (y). At SherifiPhall, the Roman camp is of a squai'e form, and is of a
large size ; and a hamlet near it bears the appropi'iate name of Camp-end (z).
From Sheriffhall south-east, distant four and a half miles, there is a Roman
camp of a smaller size, which stands on a commanding site upon the southern
extremity of the hiUy ridge that runs along the eastern side of Newbattle parish
(a). This j)ost is of a quadrangular form, comprehending in its area about three
Scots acres, and having an opening to the south-east (6). From this cora-
Tlie traJitiou refers to a British strength on the summit of the Z)Hn hill, two miles south from Dmibar,
or perhaps to a similar strength of the Britons three miles south from Dunbar, which Forrest has
denominated a Eoman camp in his map of Haddingtonshire. Maitland also states that there is
a Roman camp on Camp hill near Haddington on the north-east. Hist. Scot., i., p. 202. The
Statistical Accounts are altogether silent. Maitland perhaps alluded to a large fort of the Britons,
which as usual is called Chesters, near Haddington on the north. See Forrest's map, and Armstrong's
map of the Lothians.
(,(■) Stat. Account, v. vi., 1G2.
(jj) An altar dedicated Appolini Grardo was dug up at Inveresk before the age of Camden. Brit.,
1607, p. 13 ; Sib. Rom. Antiq., 33. Coins and medals have also been found here. A bath has been
laid open to the eye of curiosity. Stat. Account, v. xvi., p. 4, 5. From Inveresk a causeway led
southward to the Roman camp at Sheriffhall, three miles distant on the south. Id. Another Roman
road traversed the coast to Cramond, a well known Roman port.
(z) See Armstrong's map of the Lothians for the camp at Sheriffhall, which exhibits it in a square
form.
(a) Its site is 680 feet above the level of the sea, and overlooks the Lothians, the Forth, and the
shore of Fife.
(S) Armstrong's map of the Lothians ; Stat. Account, v. x., p. 213 ; and the Rev. John Clunie's
MS. Description.
Cli. IV.— T fie A vfions of L. UvMcits.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 165
maiiding position three miles south there is the remain of a Roman station
at Cume, on the Gore water. Every circumstance attests Currie to have been
a Roman post. It is plainly the Curia of the fifth Iter of Richard ; and of
course the Gadeni town. The Watling Street, in its course northward, passed
this position, as did the fifth Iter on its progress southward. The concurrence
of the name, the distance of its position from Antonine's wall, the coincidence
of the situation, all evince that this was the Curia of the Gadeni, however
antiquaries have misplaced that British town (o). In the vicinity of Currie has
been discovered a Pioman altar of a quadrangular form, which was raised upon
a strong foundation. There is another Roman altar of the same figure and
dimensions in tlie burying ground at Borthwick church, near the same interest-
ing place (c^). In this vicinity, which abounds with antiquities, on the farm of
Catcune, a mile below Currie, there is the remain of a British strength that is
called the Chesters. In the middle of this fort there is an immense round whin-
stone, which the cultivators of the soil have not been yet able to dig up, from its
sitfast hold ; and from it, distant a hundred yards, there are several sepulchral
trunuli. It is curious to remark that the prefix, in the name of Cat-cnne,
where those remains exist, signifies, in the British and Gaelic languages, a
battle, which the tumuli also indicate to have been once fought at Cat-cune (e).
It is probable that there was a Roman post on the North Esk, near Mavisbank,
where the Watling Street enabled the Roman troops to press forward to
(c) On Eichard's map Curia is placed as far southward as Bremenium, in opposition to liis own
text. Eoy and Whitaker have confounded Curia with the Coria of the Damnii.
(d) The Eev. John Clunie's MS. Account. He also states that in this vicinity, upon the lands of
Middleton, there are five rows of terraces above one another, in the face of a sloping bank which over-
looks a pleasant valley, and these are called Chesters, a name which always intimates some warlike
works.
(e) The Eev. Mr. Clunie's MS. Account. He examined at my request all those remains
with the tenant of the lands. On a plain half a mile east from Currie there are a number of
sepulchral tumuli, which have disclosed earthen pots containing half-burnt human bones. Near
the same tumuli have been dug up from the plain ground, only a foot or a foot and a half under
the surface, earthen unis containing ashes, with half-burnt bones. From all circumstances it is
reasonable to believe that the earthen pots which were found under the tumuli contained the
remains of the Britons, while the urns that were ploughed up from the surface contained the ashes
of the Eomans. It is apparent from all those coincidences that the Eoman legionaries and the
Gadeni people had on this scene met in bloody conflict, the one to attack, and the other to
defend the British town. In this neighbourhood were those altars erected, and three miles north,
ward from CuiTie was placed the Eoman camp in Newbottle parish. I owe my thanks to the
Rev. Ml-, Clunie of Borthwick for almost all those antiquities of this interesting spot on the Gore
water.
166 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Cramond, and the wall(y). At Ravelrig, eight miles south-south-west from
Cramond, stood a Roman post, a little eastward from the hill, which was
occupied on the summit by a British fort, whence the hill was named Castle-
hank (g). But the most interesting station of the Romans in Mid-Lothian
was Cramond, the Caer-amon of the Britons, the Alaterva of the Romans (h).
At the mouth of the Almond, upon the eastern side, the Romans had their naval
station from early times till their final departure from the shoi-es of the Forth.
Here have been discovered the mole, which they had founded on the rock,
the Roman altars, their coins, and medals, and pottery, and lime-kiln, and an
anchor, the evidence of the port, and a pavement, the proof of the town (i).
Cramond, as we have seen, communicated by a road eastward with Inveresk,
and westward to the wall.
West-Lothian has its full share of Roman antiquities. The Romans seem to
have had a villa at Linlithgow, where the Gadeni had previously a town {k).
Yet Camden and his followers cannot be allowed to place the Lindum of
Ptolomy and Richard at Xin-lith-gow, which demonstration has fixed at
(_/") Near Mavisbank many Roman antiquities have been found. Eoy, 103 ; Stat. Account, v. x., p.
286.
(g) See Armstrong's map of the Lotbians ; and tlie Stat. Account, vol. v., p. 326. From Castle-
bank eastward tkree and a half miles there is the remain of another Eoman post on Lady hill. Id.
In the south-west extremity of Mid-Lothian, not far from the town of Crosswoodburn, there is a Eoman
post in a pretty entire state. It stands on a most commanding situation upon the summit of an
eminence called Castlegreg, near the passage of the ridge which separates Lothian from Clydesdale, and
over which passes the present road to Lanark. In the environs of Castlegreg have been dug up several
Eoman coins that displayed the Eoman eagle, though the inscriptions were defaced. Stat. Account,
V. xviii., p. 196.
(A) The fort stood at the influx of the Almond river into the Forth, hence the Britons called the site
Caer-amon or fort on the Almond, and this descriptive name has been abbreviated by pronunciation to
Craynon, to which ignorance has added a (d), so as to form Cramond.
(i) Sibbald's Eom. Antiq., p. 33 ; Gordon's Itin., p. 116-17; Horsley's Brit. Eom., p. 204-5; Wood's
Cramond, p. 11, 12. Among many coins that have been fotmd at Cramond, there was discovered
here a medal of Diocletian, who died in 316 a.d., having on the reverse a genius, with the appropriate
inscription Genio Populi Eomani. This medal alone evinces, as Horsley indeed i-emarks, how late the
Eomans retained this naval station.
{k) Sir E. Sibbald is positive upon this point. Hist, of Linlithgowshire, p. 15. But he does not
say that any remains of a station have been here found. A discovery was, however, made in 1781
which supports the probability of there having been a Eoman villa on this elegant site, which was
afterwards occupied by a royal palace. In the Burrow moor was turned up by the plough a Eoman
urn which contained many Eoman coins of Vespasian, Domitian, Hadrian, Trajan, Antoninus Pius,
Marcus Aurelius, and Faustina. Three hundred of these coins were presented to the Antiquarian
Society of Edinburgh by Robert Clerk, the respectable provost of Linlithgow. Antiq. Transac,
p. 60.
Ch. III.— The Actions of L. Urbicus.^ OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 167
Ardoch (l). There is mucli more reason to believe, as Bede indeed has
intimated, that the Romans placed several posts, as exploratory forts, along the
bank of the Forth from Cramond to Caer-riden (to). Near Queensferry, the
castle of Abercorn, and Springfield, those posts are supposed, by various
antiquaries, to have stood as stronger or weaker intimations struck different
minds (n). It is, however, certain that the Romans during many ages were
busily employed along this track, and must have dropped many relics which
mark their footsteps, illustrate their policy, and exhibit their arts. But there
has never been any doubt of there having been a Roman station at Caer-riden ;
as the name imports, and as the termination of the wall evinces (o). The Romans
found a shelter for their vessels, while they carried on theu' intercourse at
Blackness, distant from Caer-riden two miles eastward on the shore of the
Forth ip).
The wall of Antonine appears to have been strengthened and defended, as
we have seen, by nineteen forts, judiciously placed within two miles of each
other, exclusive of the stations at Caer-riden and Kirkpatrick (q). At Dun-
glas they doubtless had a fort, as well as a harbour for their ships in the
Clyde (r). But as their shipping must have been embarrassed, and their
prcBtentm-a enfeebled by the shoal at Dumbuck, the principal harbour, as well
as the commodious mart of the Ptomans, must have been at Dunbarton, the
Theodosia of the lower empire (s). Such, then, were the Roman stations in
Valtntia.
During those times the Romans possessed many posts in Vespasiana,
which we are now to survey. The remarkable peninsula of Fife was first in-
vaded bythem, under Agricola, in 83 A.D., when its inhabitants, the Horestii, were
{I) The antiquaries were deluded into that conceit merely by the likeness of the prefix Lin in both
the names, as they did not advert to the distance and the location.
(m) Smith's Bede, p. 50 ; Sibbald's Hist. Linlithgow, p. 20 ; Stat. Accoimt, v. i., p. 238 ; Id., v. xx.,
p. 399; Eoy, p. 13C.
(«) Id.
(o) Sibbald's Hist. Linlithgow, p. 19. Gordon shows how many Roman antiquities have been found
at Caer-riden. Itin. Septent., p. 61, pi. li. Since the ages of Sibbald and Gordon other remains have
been found where many once existed. In 1741, says the minister of Caer-riden, there were found here
by excavation axes, pots, and vases, which, as they were evidently Roman, were sent to the Advocates'
Library at Edinburgh. Stat. Account, v. i., p. 100.
(p) Roy, p. 164. {q) lb., p. 157-64, pi. xxxv. (r) Id.
(5) Roy places Theodosia at Dunbarton on his Mappa Romana ; and Richard meant to place it
at the same commodious position, yet carried it to the issue of Loch-Lomond. Neither Gordon
nor Horsley found any remains at Dunbarton, yet Dr. Irvine, as we are assured by Sir R. Sib-
bald, found, about the year 1686, the remains of a Roman fort at Dunbarton, the Alchiid of the
Britons.
168 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book l.—The Roman Period.
subdued. Even at that early epoch, the Roman navy which surveyed the whole
Forth, may have found a harbour at Bruntisland, where nature had placed a com-
modious port. On the easten base of Dunairn hill, a mile from the port, the Ro-
mans probably placed a camp in early times {t). On the western summit of this
height the Horestii had a fort, which was thus strong from its position, and
was made more defensible by art {^l). This Roman camp remained very dis-
tinct to the days of Sibbald, who often mentions it, and speaks of the prcetorium
as a square of a hundred paces diameter, and as called by the country people
the Tournament, where many Roman medals have been found (x). On the left
of this naval station near Carnock, on the south the Romans had in those
times a camp, the remains whereof may still be traced, though cultivation has
done much to obliterate them. The existence of this camp will always be
attested by the name of its site {y). At Loch-Ore, ten miles from the frith, there
was a Roman camp, ^vhich antiquaries suppose, with great reason, to have been
the same camp where the gallant Horestii attacked the ninth legion of Agri-
cola (2). This camp, which, we have seen, was pitched among the strongest forts
(<) It is popularly called Ayricola's camp, but this tradition is not older probably than the writings
of Sir E. Sibbald.
(a) The area on the summit was surrounded by a rampart of stones, and lower down in the
face of the hill another wall encompassed the whole. Sibbald's Roman Camps, p. 5-15 ; Stat.
Account, V. ii., p. 429. On the north there was another fort on the summit of Bonie Iiill. In this
vicinity, on the north-west, there are several sepulchral tumuli wherein have been found urns
containing ashes, and stone chests comprehending human bones. Sibbald's Eom. Camps, p. 9, 11, 18.
The minister of Bruntisland also mentions several baiTOws on the heights of Orrock and Babie, half a
njile northwai'd from Dunairn hill, wherein human bones have been discovered by excavation. Stat.
Account, V. ii., p. 429.
(x) Sibbald's Roman Forts, p. 11-15. He also says that Roman coins and sculptured stones have
■faeen discovered at Orrock. lb., 9. A coin of Antoninus Pius has been found near Bruntisland.
Trans. Antiq. Soc. Edinbui'gh, p. 70.
(«) It is called Camps, and two adjoLuing hamlets are named East Camp and West Camp. Ainslie's
map ; Stat. Account, v. xi., p. 497. In the vicinity of this camp the Horestii appear to have had a
fortress on Cacneil hiU, as, indeed, the British prefix Caer, a fort, seems to intimate. Id. There are
several sepulchral tumuli on Carneil hill which have disclosed human remains, and which attest that
some conflict had happened here. Id. Copper coins have also been found here. Id. On Craigluscar
liill, north a mile and a half, the British people had another fort. Id. ; lb., v. xiii., p. 453. From
the Roman camp at Carnock, north-west three miles, the Horestii had another fortress on Saline hill,
.and below one of a similar form. lb., v. x., p. 312.
(z) Of the existence of a Roman camp at Loch-Ore, on the north-west side, there cannot be
A doubt. The proprietor of Loch-Ore, having cut drains under the camp, found several Roman
antiquities. On Binartie hill, which stretches from east to west three miles, the Horestii had a
great strength, which was fortified by double ramparts and ditches. Sibbald's Rom. Antiq., p, 37.
He confounds this with the Roman camp. Id. From Binartie a mile and a half commences the
Cii. lY.—The Actions of L. Urbk-us.l OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 109
of the Horestii appears to have been afterwards converted into a permanent
station, as its remains show it to have been secured by three ramparts, with
their accompanying fosses (a). The Eomans had a small post upon the May
water at Ardargie, at the defile of the Ochil hUls, which served as a central
communication between their stations on the Forth and Stratliearn, the great
scene of the Roman operations. They had also a post at Hallyards, in the parish
of TuUiebole (6). If we might give implicit credit to Sir R. Sibbald, we ought to
suppose with him that the Romans had a road through every vale, and a
camp on every height within his native shire (c). That they had traversed
and subdued this great peninsula between the Forth and Tay, where they long
remained, is certain {d). The coins of such a succession of Emperors, which
have been every where found in this interesting ground, attest the fact vvith
full conviction (e).
Not only in Fife, which formed a considerable part of Vesj^asiana, but
every where beyond the wall of Antonine, the brave descendants of the Cale-
donian people, who had dared to act offensively against Agricola, were re-
strained under LoUius Urbicus, by the same means which had subdued and
civiUzed the Caledonian clans within Valentia. Itineraries, with their ac-
companying posts, were carried throughout the ample I'ange of the Vespasiana ;
a road, as we know from remains, and as we have seen from examination,
penetrated the greatest part of its long extent, from the M'aU to the Varar ; and
fortresses, we shall immediately find, were erected near the commanding passes
from the Highlands to the low country. By a judicious arrangement the
Roman ofiicers seem to have carried into efiect two gi'eat objects : 1st, In order
to command the low country which lies between the long range of the
Grampian hills and the eastern sea, they established corresponding posts at
convenient distances ; 2ndly, With design to protect the low-lands along the
coast of the eastern sea from the incursions of the unsubdued Caledonians of
the interior Highlands, they settled, in every opening j^ass of the Grampian
range of Cleish liills, upon four different summits, on each whereof the Horestii had a fastness which
had been constructed with great labour. They have been mistaken for Eoman works, which are quite
different in their location and construction. In the low grounds northward from this hill, there were
discovered in 1791, a number of sepulchral urns containing ashes, human bones, with charcoal ; these
were doubtless Roman, as they were not covered with tumuli, and were of better workmanship than
those of the Britons. Stat. Account, v. iii., p. 561.
(a) Gordon's Itin., p. 36 ; Stat. Acco., v. vii., p. 315. (J) Stat. Account, v. sviii., p. 470.
(c) See his Eom. Enquiries ; his Eoman Forts and Colonies ; and his Hist, of Fife, throughout.
(d) Id. See the Statis. Accounts of Fife.
(c) Sibbald's Eom. Antiq., p. 51 ; Hist. Fife, p. 31 ; Acco. of the Antiq. Soc. of Edin., p. 41, 42,
74, and part ii., p. 63, 70.
Vol. I. Z
170 An account [Book I.— The Boman Period.
hills, a suitable fortress. All those judicious arrangements of hostile policy
may still be traced by the obvious remains both of the stations and forts,
and a liberal curiosity may be gratified by a brief review of those military dis-
positions for enforcing the obedience of the gallant people who then inhabited
a difficult country.
That Camelon, which was situated about five furlongs without the gate
where the Roman road issued from the wall, was a Roman town, is agreed by
all the antiquaries {f). Its vestiges were apparent to the inquisitive eyes of
Gordon and of Horsley ((/), though its object seems not to be so apparent, if it
were not designed for the useful purposes of treaty and of traffic, the Kiahta
of those times (h). Only one Roman road, as we have seen, conducted the
Roman armies from the wall to the Varar, though vicinal ways connected
their outposts with their stations. From Camelon, northward ten miles, there
is reason to believe that the Romans had a station at Stirling (^). Along the
same road, at the distance of twelve miles north-north-west from Camelon,
was the Alauna of Ptolomy and of Richard, which was situated on the kindred
Allan, about a mile above the confluence of this river with the cognate Foi'th.
The Alauna commanded the lower parts of Strath-allan, with the whole country
on both the banks of the Forth and her associate Teith, for a considerable
distance ; having communications with Camelon behind, Lindum befoi'e, and
with subsidiary posts on those rivers above. The next station, along Strath-
allan and the course of the northern road, was Ardoch, at the distance of about
nine miles northwest from the Alauna, on the east side of Knaig water. Here
was the celebrated scene of many Roman operations, from the great epoch of
the Caledonian conflict with Agricola till the final abdication of the Roman
(/) There is <i plan of this town in Eoy's Milit. Antiq., pi. xxix.
(y) Itin. Septan., p. 23 ; and Brit. Eom., p. 172. Yet Horsley mistakingly placed Camelon
immediately within the wall. See his map of the course of this fence from frith to frith.
Qi) Sir K. Sibbald informs us that, "within a century of years hence [1707], an anchor wag
" digged out of the ground near Camelon ; and the surface of the ground between it and the water
" of Carron. shews that the sea in ancient times flowed up to it, so it seemeth to have been a post.
" There are yet traced the vestiges of regular streets, and there are vaults under them, and a military
" way passeth from it south to Carnwath, and Eoman coins have been found in it." Eom. Antiq., p.
34 ; and Eoy intimates that an anchor had been found, and that some traces of the Eoman post are
still visible. Eom. Antiq., 153.
(t) Sir E. Sibbald says, " upon a rock below the castle [of Stii-ling] this inscription was graven
'•• which was sent to me thus : EsT EXCV. AGIT. LEG. 11., and seemeth to have been the chief
" quarter of the second legion ; this being the main pass to the north countries, was guarded by it.
Eom. Antiq., p. 35. It was obviously the ford on the Forth at this passage which the Eoman post j
was here placed to protect. I
Ch. TV.— The Actions o/L. Urbicus.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 171
power. The several works which have been successively constructed at Ar-
doch by different commanders, with various views, are proofs of its advantageous
position (k). Strath-allan, wherein it is placed, is the natural passage from the
Forth northward into the heart of Perthshire and into the interior of Cale-
donia. And this station, with its collateral outposts, commanded the whole
extent of this interesting district between the frith and Strathearn.
Next to Ardoch in this chain of camps, at Strageth, about the distance of
six miles north-east on the south side of the river Earn, was the Hierna of
Richard. This station was advantageously placed on an eminence, and com-
manded the middle part of Strathearn, lying between the Ochil hills on the
south and the river Almond on the north (I). On the moor of Gask, upon the
communication between the stations of Hierna and Orrea, there are, as we have
already seen, two Roman posts which were probably designed to protect the
(Ic) At Ardoch tlaere are tlie distinct remains of three Roman camps of very different sizes, whioli
appear to have been oonstnicted at different periods. The hirgest was formed by Agiicola in his
famous campaign of the year 84, and was of course the first. The second in size is on the west side of
the former, and was undoubtedly formed by a subsequent commander, who included withui his entrench-
ments a part of Agricola's camp. The third and smallest camp was constructed on the south side of
the largest one, a part of which it comprehends. This last camp is surrounded by a much stronger
entrenchment than the other two. See the dimensions of those several camps described in Eoy's Jlilit.
Antiq., p. 62 and pi. x. Besides these three contiguous camps, there is also on the south side of the
last of them, opposite to the bridge over Knaig water, a very strong fort surrounded by five or six
fosses and ramparts. Its area is about 500 feet long and 430 broad, being nearly of a square form.
See a plan of this impregnable fort in Eoy's Military Antiq., pi. xxs. ; see Gordon's Itin., p. 41, pi. vi.;
and Horsley's Brit. Eom., p. 44 and pi. xliv. Gordon and Horsley only mention this fort, and they
seem to have overlooked the three camps on the noith of it, which, with other small military posts in
the contiguous grounds, are equally important. For some other particulars of an interesting nature,
see Sir E. Sibbald's Rom. Antiq., p. 37 ; his Eoman Colonies beyond the Forth, p. 10 ; and the Stat.
Account, v. viii., p. 495.
(/) On an eminence at Strageth, upon the south bank of the river Earn, there was till recent
times a pretty large Eoman camp, the ramparts whereof have been completely levelled by the plough.
When Maitland examined it about the year 1749, there was enough of the rampart remaining to shew
that the camp had been of large dimensions, containing more than thirty Scots acres, according to the
opinion of the fanner who rented the ground. Mait. Hist, of Scot., v. i., p. 196. The remains of
this camp were also noticed by Roy, Miht. Antiq., p. 128. On the east side of this camp there was a
Eoman fort of less size, but of greater strength, surrounded by three rows of ditches and ramparts,
which enclosed a rectangular area of about four hundred and fifty feet long and four hundred feet
broad. See a plan of this fort in Roy's Milit. Antiq., pi. xxxii. ; and Gordon's Itin., p. 42, pi. vii.
Gordon seems not to have been aware that there had been a large camp on this site, of which
the fort, described and represented by him and by Eoy, was merely an adjunct in the same
manner as the fort of Ardoch forms only an inconsiderable part of the Roman fortifications at that
famous station.
Z2
.rArw
17-2 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
Roman road from the incursions of tlie tribes on either side of this communi-
cation. But Orrea, lying east-north-east about fourteen and a half miles from
Hierna, as it was the most central station, was also the most important (vu).
Situated as we have observed at the confluence of the Almond with the Tay, Orrea
commanded the eastern part of Strathearn, the banks of the Tay and the
country between this river and the Sidlaw hills (n). The Roman Orrea, like
the modern Perth, was the central position whence the Roman road departed
and to which it returned through the interior highlands, as we learn from the
ninth and tenth Itinera of Richard.
Thus much with regard to the principal stations which commanded the
central country between the Forth and Tay. It is now proper to advert, se-
condly, to that policy of the Romans by which they guarded the passes through
the Grampian range within the extent of Perthshire to the districts below.
The first Roman streng-th on the south-west is the camp that was strongly
placed on a tongue of land which is formed by the junction of the rivers
Strath-gartney and Strath-ii'e, the two sources of the river Teith (o). The re-
mains of this camp may still be seen near Bochastle, about fifteen miles west-
south-west from the station of Ai-doch. The judicious position of the camp at
Bochastle is very apparent, as it guarded at once two important passes into
the west country, the one leading up the valley of Strath-ire into Breadalbane,
and thence into Argyle; the other leading along the north side of Loch-Ven-
nacher, Loch-Achray, and Loch-Katrine, through Strath-gartney into Dunbar-
tonshire. Northward from Bochastle, the next passage from the Western High-
lands through the Grampian range into Perthshire directs its course along the
north side of Loch-Earn into Strathearn. This defile was guarded by the double
camp at Dalginross, the Victoria of Richard, near the confluence of the Ruchel
(in) See a plan of Orrea in Boy's Military Antiq., pi. sii.
(») On the east bank of the Tay above Orrea there was a large Eoman camp at Grassjrwalls, through
which ran the Eoman road. lb., p. 65, pi. xii. As this camp was unnecessary as a permanent
station, it was probably thrown up to facilitate the march of some Roman army towards the north,
though not the army of Agricola, who never crossed the Tay assuredly, as General Eoy and others mis-
takingly suppose.
(o) This camp is distinctly laid down on Stobie's map of Perthshire as a rectangular oblong, with an
entry in the centre of each of its sides. It is somewhat longer than the Eoman fort which is opposite
to the bridge of Ardoch, and nearly double the size of the largest camp at Gask. On the top of the
Dun of Bochastle, a little more than half a mile west from the Eoman camp, there is a British fortress
of an oval form ; and about two miles east from it, on the farm of Achenlaich, there is a still larger
British fortification of a cii'cular form upon an eminence. See Stobie's map of Perthshire ; and the
Stat. Account of Callander, v. xi., p. GOT.
oil. lY.—The A ctions of L. Urbiais.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 173
with the Earn (p). This station is more than thirteen miles north-east from the
camp at Bochastle, and ahout eight miles north-east from the station at Ar-
doch ((j). The camps at Victoria not only guarded the passage along Loch-Earn,
but also commanded the western districts of Strathearn. From Victoria, about
ten and a half miles north-east, and from Hierna, about six and a half mUes
north, there was a Roman camp at East-Findoch on the south side of the river
Almond. This important station guarded the only practicable passage through
the mountains northward in the extent of thirty miles, from east to west (r).
Strathearn, which anciently had a greater extent than is now allowed it, ap-
pears to have been the peculiar object of the E,oman care. On the eastern
side of this great Strath, between it and the Forth, there are the remains of
Roman posts which were obviously placed here to overlook the passes of the
OchU hills, some of them as early, perhaps, as the winter of a.b. 83-4, while
Agricola lay in Fife. At Ardargie, where there seems to have been a conflict,
there was placed a Roman camp, with the apparent purpose of guarding the
(p) See this camp in Eoy's Milit. Antiq., p. 63, pi. xi., wMcli he erroneously calls the camp of the
ninth legion. The plans of the camps of Dalginross, in Gordon's Itin., pi. v., and in Horaley's Brit.
Eom., p. 44, are not quite correct. Horsley mistakingly calls the camps at Dalginross, the Inner-
peffery camp ; but it is the station of Hierna, and not Victoria, which is near Innerpeffery. The
station of Victoria was probably connected with the post at Ardoch, and perhaps with that at Strageth,
by means of a vicinal way ; for there is still to be traced the remains of such a way, leading from the
gates of Victoria, a short distance in a southerly direction, pointing to the pass that leads to Ardoch.
See Horsley's Plan, p. 44, and Eoy, pi. xi. A few miles north-east from the station at Dalginross,
there are the remains of two Eoman posts of observation ; one of them is situated so as to have a view
of the station at Dalginross, and the other commands a more distant view of the station at Ardoch.
Stat. Account, v. viii., p. 67.5.
(17) See Stobie's map of Perthshire.
(>■) This camp is placed on a high ground, which is defended by waters on two sides, and by a
moss with a steep bank on the other two sides. It is about one hundred and eighty paces long
and eighty broad ; and it is suiTounded by a strong earthen wall, a part whereof still remains, and is
near twelve feet thick. The trenches are still entire, and are in some places six feet deep. A vicinal
way diverged from the great Eoman road at its passage of the river Earn near the station of
Hiema, and led across the country to this station at East Findoch. Near this remarkable camp
there are many ruins, barrows, and cairns, some of which were found, when opened, to have been
the graves of those warriors who had defended their country against its invaders. About a mile
and a quarter northward from the Eoman camp at Findoch, on the summit of Dunmore hill,
there is a strong British fort, which had the complete command of the passage through those almost
impervious hills ; and about the same distance east-north-east from the same camp there are the
remains of two other British forts on the hill above Lethendy. Stobie's map of Perthshire, and
the Stat. Account of Monzie, v. xv., p. 256-7. It thus appears that both the Caledonian Britons and
the invading Eomans had guarded this important pass from Strathearn through the hills towards the
north.
174 An ACCOUNT [Book l.—T he lioman Period.
passage through those hills by the valley of May water (s) ; and the Roman
policy placed another post at Gleneagles, which secured the passage of the same
hills through Glendevon. From the station at East Findoch the Romans
appear to have penetrated by the important pass which it commanded into
the central highlands, and at the distance of about sixteen miles in a direct hne
north-west they judiciously fixed a post at Fortingal, with the obvious design
to guard the narrow but useful passage from the middle highlands westward
through Glenlyon to Argyle (<). From the camp of Findoch, about fifteen
miles north-east, and from Orrea eight and a half miles north, the Romans
placed a station at Inchtuthel upon an eminence on the north bank of the
Tay (»). This advantageous position had been the j^revious site of a British
(s) The remains of tliis camp are still extant, and have always been called by the tradition of the
country, the Roman Camp. It is situated upon an eminence on the east side of May water, and is of
a square figure, each side of which is about ninety yards long. On one side it is defended by a deep
hollow, through which a brook runs, and on the other three sides by trenches which are ten yards
wide at the top, fourteen feet deep on the side nest the camp, and ten feet deep on the outside. Stat.
Account of Scotland, v. iii., p. 309 : and Stobie's Map of Perthshire. About a mile north-east from
this Eoman post, there is the remain of a British hill-fort of a circular form on the summit of an
eminence called the Castle-law.
(t) This camp is situated on the north side of the river Lyon, at the eastern entrance of Glen-Lyon.
The ai'ea contains about eighty acres. In many places the rampart is broken down and the ditch filled
up for the purpose of cultivation ; the prsetorium still remains complete. In digging for antiquities in
it there were found three urns and a copper vessel, with a beak, handle, and three feet. Stat. Account
of Scot., V. ii., p. 456 ; Roy's Milit. Antiq., v. ii., pi. six. ; Stobie's Map of Perthshire; Pennant's
Tour, V, ii., p. 25. As Pennant calls it a Castellum, I suspect he has considered the Prcetorhivi as the
only work. Eoman coins have been found in different places of the adjacent country. Stat. Account
of Scot., V. ii., p. 456. In digging the foundation of a tower near Taymouth, about three miles east of
this camp, there were found fourteen silver denarii, but none of them of a later date than the age of
Marcus Aurelius. Pennant, v. ii., p. 25.
(m) The site of this station is a height on the north side of the river Tay, in the parish of
Caputh, the top of which forms a flat of about one hundred and sixty acres, raised about sixty feet
above the surrounding plain, and of an equal height and regularly steep on every side. On this
elevated plain there is the remain of a Roman camp of a square form, about five hundred yards
each way. At some distance from this camp on the east side there is a redoubt on the edge of
the height. On the western extremity of this height, which runs into a point, there is a strong
entrenched post fortified by five ramparts and as many fosses running across the point. At some
distance eastward, between this entrenched post and the camp, a rampart runs across the height
from side to side. This level summit was fortified by the British people, and they had a town
here before the Romans took possession of it. The dry stone rampart which sm-rounded the
margin of the height and foi-med the defence of the British strength remains in several places
perfectly distinct. Pennant's Tour, v. ii., p. 67 ; Roy's Milit. Antiq., v. i., p. 75, and pi. sviii
Munimenta Antiqua, v. i., p. 42-3 ; Stat. Account of Scot., v. ix., p. 504-5. Inchtuthel, the pre-
Ch. VI.— The Actions of L. UrhicuK.-] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 175
forti'ess. This station, in conjunction with another Roman work about four
miles eastward upon the Haugh of Hallhole on the western side of the river
Isla, completely commanded the whole of Stormont and every road which
could lead the Caledonians down from Athol and Glen-Shee into the better
countries below [x). The several stations which, as we learn from the tenth
Iter of Richard, were placed at Varis, at Tuessis, at Tamea, on the waters of
the Dee above and in Glen-Shee on the Isla, were all obviously intended to
overawe the Caledonian people of the mtjuntainous districts which lie on the
upper streams of the Spey and the Dee. Thus much, then, with regard to the
Roman ]30sts which were thus intended to command the passes of the Grampian
mountains through the whole extent of Perthshire, and to secure the country
below from the Forth to the Tay.
The low countries of Angus and Mearns were secured, as we shall imme-
diately find, by Roman posts of a different location. i'rom Inchtuthel about
seven miles east at Coupar- Angus, on the east side of the Isla, and on the
course of the Roman road, there was a Roman camp of a square form, con-
taining within its ramparts four and twenty acres {y). This camp commanded
the passage down Strathmore, between the Sidlaw hills on the south-east and
the Isla on the north-west. In conjunction with the camp on the Haugh of
Hallhole on the west of the Isla, the camp of Coupar guarded the passages
leading down Strathardle and Glen-Shee. From Coupar about eighteen miles
sent name of this place is derived from the Scoto-Irish Inishtuathal, signifying the North island.
This appellation was doubtless given by the Scoto-Irish people in more modern times to the
islet on the north side of the river Tay, at the base of the height on which those ancient works are
situated.
(./;) From this camp a large wall of earth, called the Cleaving dilce, twenty-four feet thick, with
a ditch on each side sixty feet distant from the wall, runs out in a straight line west-north-west
nearly two miles and a half, and it is said to have joined the ancient course of the Tay. See Stobie's
map of Perthshire, and the Stat. Account of Caputh, v. is., p. 506. If this last circumstance be
true, this rampart and those trenches must have formed a very large defensible enclosure in the
foi-m of a delta six or seven miles in circumference, having the river Isla on the east and south-
east, the Tay on the south and west, and the Cleaving dike connecting both these rivers on
the north.
{y) Stat. Account, v. xvii., p. 10. The camp at Coupar- Angus is represented by Maitland,
Hist, of Scot., p. 199, "as appearing to have been an equilateral quadrangle of four hundred yards,
" fortified with two strong ramparts and large ditches, which are still to be seen on the eastern and
'' southern sides." Little more than a mile south from Coupar-xingus there are on Camp-moor the
remains of another Roman camp, of which Boy gives a description and a plan. Milit. Antiq., p. 67
and pi, xiv.
176 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
nortli-east stood the Roman Camp of Battledikes, as remains evince (2). Tliis
great camp was obviously placed here to guard the passages from the highlands
through Glen Esk, and Glen-Prosen, and at the same time to command the
whole interior of the Lowlands beneath the base of the Grampian mountains.
From the camp at Battledikes about eleven and a half miles north-east there
"was a Roman camp, the remains of which may still be traced near the mansion-
house of Keithock, and is now known by the name of Wardikes (a). This camp
was established near the foot of the hills, whereon had been previously placed
the Caledonian fortresses, which are known by the British name of Caterthun.
This camp was here fixed as a guard on the passage from the highlands through
the Glens of North-Esk and of the West-water, and it commanded a consider-
able sweep of the low country lying between the mountains and the coast. In
the interior of Forfarshire there was a Roman camp wliich is now called
Hardfaulds, situated ten miles north from the frith of Tay, fourteen miles
south-south-west from the camp of Wardikes at Keithock, and eight miles
south-south-east from the camp of Battledikes ; with which last, it was con-
nected by a vicinal road that still remains (h). The camp at Harefaulds was
judiciously placed for commanding a large extent of Angus southward to the
Tay, eastward to the sea, and northward it joined its overpowering influence
with that of Battledikes. The country below the Sidlaw hiUs on the north side
(?) The mean length of this camp is 2970 feet, and the mean breadth 1850. Boy's Milit. Antiq., p.
66 and pi. xiii.; and see a description and a plan of this camp, with the vicinal road leading from it
to the camp of Harefaulds, by the Eev. Dr. Jamieson. Biblioth. Topog. Brit., No. ssxvi.
(a) The Roman camp near Keithock, which was formerly named War-dikes, and is now called
Black-dikes, lying on the road to Gannachy bridge, two miles and two-thirds north from
Bi'echin, has been elaborately described to me by the intelligent Colonel Imrie. He states it "to
" be a rectangular parallelogram whose sides are 395 yards by 292 yards, comprehending 25
" English acres. Upon the north-west and south-west sides the vallum can be fully traced,
" except the spot that is marked as ploughed. Upon the north-east side a new boundary fence
" between two adjoining proprietors runs in the direction of the old wall, and has nearly destroyed
<' every vestige of it. The south-east side has been for many years a part of cultivated fields, yet
" the old dike is perfectly remembered, and a person residing near the spot says that he assisted
" in ploughing it up ; but as two of its sides are determined and the entire angle is found by
" measurement to be a right angle, the camp has been ascertained to be of the figure and dimensions
" above-mentioned." There is an imperfect sketch of this camp in Roy's Milit. Antiq., pi. xiv.
In the Statistical Account, v. xxi., p. 123, this rectangular jiarallelogram of twenty-five acres is called
a Danish camp 1
(h) See a description and a plan of this camp and vicinal road by the Rev. Dr. Jamieson.
Biblioth Topog. Brit., No. xxxvi. ; and see Roy's JElit. Antiq,, p. 67 and pi. xix. The site of this
camp is eight miles south-south-east from the camp of Battle-dikes, and about ten miles north from
the Tay.
C\i.lV.— The Actions of L.Urbwiis.] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 177
of the Estuary of Tay, was guarded by a Roman camp near Invergowrie, which
had a communication on the north-east with the camp of Harefaulds (e). The
Mearns was equally well protected as Angus. North-east from Wardikes
about twelve miles there was placed a Roman station at Fordun, which was of
greater extent than its remains seem to evince (d). It was coramodiously placed
on the rise of the valley that is known by the ajjpropriate name of the How
of the Mearns, which it protected with the country southward to North-Esk,
and eastward to the sea. From Fordun north-east eleven miles, and from the
passage of the Dee at Mary-culter south six miles, was placed the great
camp called Raedikes upon the estate of Ury (e). This station which has been
idly attributed to Agricola, but may pretty certainly be assigned to L. Urbicus,
commanded the narrow country between the north-east end of the Grampian
hills and the sea., as well as the angle of land lying between the sea and the
Dee. From Fordun, about four and a half miles west-north-west, there was a
Roman post at Clattering-bridge which is now known by the name of the Green
(f ) The remains of this camp are about two miles west from Dundee, and half a mile north from
Livergowrie, on the Tay. Maitland says, it is about two hundred yards square, fortified with a high
rampart and a spacious ditch. Hist, of Scotland, v. i., p. 215 ; and see also the Stat. Account of
Liff and Benvie, v. xiii., p. 115. The site of this camp still bears the name of Ca?er-Mellie ; no
doubt, from the British Cader, a fortress, a stronghold. This camp must also have answered the
purpose of keeping up a communication with the Roman shipping in the Tay.
(d) Near to the mansion-house of Fordun, and about a mile south-south-east of the church of
Fordun, there was an extensive Eoman camp, the ramparts and ditches of which remained pretty
complete till about fifty years ago. Since that time a great part of them have been levelled, and the
ground brought into cultivation. Parts, however, of two of them still remain ; these vestiges run at
right angles to one another, and seem to have composed the west and north sides of the camp. The
Luther-water, which is here only a rivulet, ran formerly through the west side of this camp, and on
the east side of it there are several springs. This strength is called by the people of the country the
West Camp. At a little distance eastward, there is a very complete Roman fort, which is supposed to
have been the Prcetorium of the West Camp. It is of an oblong rectangular form, surrounded by a
ditch and rampart. The ditch is eighteen feet wide, and is even now six feet deep, but it was
formerly deeper, as the old people who reside near it assert. The area within is, from east to west,
about 83 yards long, and about 38 yards broad, and contains about 3154 square yards. Very near
the south-west corner is the gate of the width of 22 feet. About half a mile north of this camp,
upon Drumsleid hill, there are the remains of a large British fortification, which is sometimes called
the Scotish camp, by the people of the country. These notices are stated from very minute descrip-
tions and mensurations, by the Rev. James Leslie of Fordun, and the Rev. Mr. Hutton of Edzel. which
were made in 1799.
(e) See an Account and a Plan of this Roman camp, from an actual sui-vey by George Brown, land-
surveyor, in the Bibl. Topograph. Brit., No. 36 ; Gough's Camden, v. iii., p. 416., pi. ssviii. ; Roy's
Milit. Antiq., pi. 1. And see a Plan of this remarkable ground in the Transactions of the Antiq. Soc.
of Scotland, v. i., p. 565.
Vol. L A a
178 A N A C C 0 U K T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
castle. It was advantageously placed here for the obvious purpose of guarding
the well-known passage through the Grampian mountains by the Cairn-o'mount,
into the valley of the Mearns (/). At a distance of four miles south-south-
west from the Green castle, and " about three quarters of a mile besouth of
" Fettercairn," Maitland mistakingly supposed that there bad been " a beauti-
" ful Roman fort " {(j). But he merely mistook a British strength for a lloman
post, as a minute survey in 1798 clearly evinced {h).
The whole coast of Caledonia from the Deva to the Varar, comprehending
the territories of the Taisali and the Vacomagi, were secured by the com-
manding station at Glenmailen (a) with its subsidiary posts, by the intermedi-
ate station of Tuessis on the Spey (6), and by the impregnable fort at Ptoro-
ton (Jib). Such then is the review which it was proposed to make of the hostile
arrangements that the Romans established for commanding the passes of the
mountains, and securing the tranquility of the low countries ; and they show
distinctly how well they knew both the outline and interior of Caledonia, andJ
(f) I caused tliis remarkable post to be surveyed in May, 1798. It stands on a precipitous bank oni
the north-east of tlae Clatteiing-burn ; the area of the fort within the ramparts measures 157 feet 91
inches at the north-east end, and at the south-west 82 feet 6 inches; the length is 262 feet 6 inches.1
The ditch is 37 feet 6 inches broad at the bottom. The rampart, which is wholly of earth, is inl
height from the bottom of the ditch 51 feet 9 inches.
((/) Hist. Scot., V. i., p. 200.
(//) At my request this fort at Balbegno was accurately examined in May, 1798, by James Strachan,!
who, inspecting it with unprejudiced eyes, found it to be a vitrified fort of British construction,!
He says, " It is situated about seven hundred yards west of Balmain, and near a mile south-west froml
" Fettercairn. It is of an oval fonn, and is surrounded by two ramparts. The outer rampart 1
"is built with dry stones, without any lime or mortar, and without the least mark of any tool,]
" and under the foundation are found ashes of bui-nt wood. The space betwixt the outer andj
" inner rampart measures 93 feet 9 inches. The inner wall is 30 feet thick, and has all undergonei
" the operation of vitrification. The area within this is 140 feet long, 67 feet 6 inches broad at thej
" east end, and 52 feet 6 inches broad at the west end. The elevation on the north side is abomtl
" 40 feet, and full 60 feet on the south side, where it is aU wet mossy ground." He calls it thej
Green Cairn at Balbegno. Such is the description of James Strachan, the scientific gardener of!
my late worthy friend. Lord Adam Gordon, to whose zealous kindness I owe much information.
It is mentioned in the Stat. Account of Fettercau-n, vol. v., p. 334. The minister says, " It is on the I
" estate of Balbegno, and that tradition calls it Finella's Castle, and the people believe it to harel
" been her residence. After the murder of King Kenneth his attendants set fire to the building, and!
" reduced it to ashes." Such is the legend !
(a) See before, and a plan of the camp, and grounds about Glenmailen, in Eoy, pi. li.
(i) Sie before, p. 129, and the description of the station of Tuessis.
(Ji) See a survey of Ptoroton, or the Burgh-head of Moray, in Eoy, pi. xxsiii. and xxxiv ; and i
a description of it from a more recent survey, before, p. 130.
Plan &• Sue 770I/ M^;^^t
■.^n^y c^^^^ (2z^-^ ^y(:myi^z,a.,U,. .^^
to Ihcc p /7^.
Caldft'a/l Scnip^
Ch. lY.—The Actions of L. Urhicis.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 179
with what skill they employed that knowledge for eflfecting their military ob-
jects (c). Whether those roads and stations were all constructed in the same
age and by the same hands may well admit of an historical doubt.
It has been the common error of modern antiquaries to attribute every Roman
remain in North-Britain to Agricola. It is not possible, indeed, either from
classic information or from recent discoveries, to distinguish the several works
of Agricola from those of Urbicus or of Severus, though the chronology of
every road and station may be pretty certainly fixed by circumstantial proofs.
There is no evidence that Agricola left any garrisons on the north of the
(c) Besides the Iters and the roads that traversed the province of Vespasiana and the stations
which we have seen were established by the Eoman policy for the command and protection of
that province, we also find from the discovery of coins, arms, and other remains, that the Eomans,
while they were in possession of this province, not only explored the shores of the Varar a con-
siderable distance beyond Ptoroton, but also penetrated the inmost recesses of Caledonia. At
Inshoch, which is situated on the south coast of the Varar or Moray-Frith, about fifteen miles
west-south-west from Ptoroton, and three miles east from Nairn, there were found in a moss
several remains of Eoman arms, two heads of the Eoman Hasta, two heads of the Eoman horse-
man's spear, as described by Josephus, lib. iii., c. 3 ; and a round piece of thin metal, hollow on the
under side, all of ancient Eoman brass. These were presented to the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, by the Eeverend John Grant, in January, 1783. Account of this Society, Part, ii., p. 70,
135. Eoman coins have been found at several places along the south coast of the same Frith,
particularly at Nairn, which is about eighteen miles west-south-west from Ptoroton. Near to
Ardersier, which is situated on the southern shore of the Varar, twenty-four miles west>south-
west from Ptoroton, there were dug up more than twenty-five years ago a very curious Eoman
sword and the head of a spear. Eoy's Milit. Antiq., v. i., p. 88. On the east side of the river
Ness, five or six hundred yards below its efflux from Loch-Ness, there are the remains of a militaiy
station, which exhibits in its mode of fortification the evidence of its Eoman construction. It
is of a square form, fifty-three paces long, and fifty paces broad. It is situated on a peninsula,
having two of its sides protected by the river Ness and by a loch through which it runs ; the
other two, sides are defended by a rampart and ditch fourteen feet wide. It is judiciously placed
so as to command the only ford of the river Ness, which equally bounded the country of the
Vacomagi and the Eoman province of Vespasiana. This passage is to the present day called Bona,
Bona, or Boness. See Survey of Moray, p. 53 ; Eoy's Eoman map of North-Britain, in Milit.
Antiq., pi. i. ; and Ainslie's map of Scotland. The similarity of the name and the correspondence
of the position render it probable that this was the site of the Banatia of Ptolomy and Eichard,
a town of the Vacomagi, which Eichard places in his map upon the south-east side of the chain
of waters that intersect the country from Fort-William to Inverness, of which the Ness river and
lake form large portions. The Eoman name of Bonatia was no doubt foi-med by giving a Latin
termination to the British Bon-nes, which denotes its situation at the lower end of Loch-Ness.
The advantageous site of this Eoman post recommended it in an after age for the position of a
more modern fortification, which was doubtless constructed for the similar purpose of guarding
the same passage. This work is said to be also of a square form, twenty-four paces on each side.
180 An account. [Book I.— The Roman Period.
friths ; it is certain that Urbicus left Antoniniis's wall guarded by the legions,
and the province of Vespasiana covered with stations ; and it is equally certain,
from the informations of Dio and Herodian, that Severus garrisoned, within the
country of the Caledonians, forts which remained to his son at the epoch of his
demise. So much mistake has hitherto existed among antiquarians as to the
proper age and appropriate author of those several roads and stations, that
every attempt to fix their chronology becomes of great importance to the pro-
gress of truth.
The Itinerary of llichard, which, as we have seen, was drawn up before the
middle of the second century, must be the principal document for the ascer-
tainment of certainty : and every station which is called for, by its useful
notices, must necessarily have existed during the administration of Urbicus,
while the Roman territories in Caledonia were carried to their greatest extent,
and the Roman glory to its highest pitch. The stations Alauna on the Allan ;
of Lindum, at Ardoch ; of Victoria, at Dalginross ; of Hierna, at Sti'ageth ;
of Orrea, on the Tay ; of Devana, on the Dee ; of Ituna, on the Ithau ; of
Tuessis, on the Spey ; of Ptoroton, on the Varar ; are all recognised by the
ninth Iter of Richard ; and existed, consequently, during the able administra-
tion of Urbicus (c/) : and as Agricola never attempted to penetrate to the north-
ward of the Tay, it is equally certain that this great officer does not merit the
praise of conceiving the policy, or of erecting those commanding stations beyond
the Friths (e). These observations equally apply to Inchtuthel, which is called
for by the tenth Iter of Richard, if it formed the station in medio.
and built of ratlaer modem masonry. Survey of Moray, p. 53. At Fort-Augustus, wliieh stands
at the soutli-west end of Loch-Ness, was discovered, in April, 1767, by some labourers in digging
a trench, an earthen urn of a blue colom-, with three hundred pieces of coin, which were of a mixed
metal. They appeared to the officer who gave this account to be all of the Emperor Dioclesian.
Scots Mag., 1767, p. 326. In the highland country of Badenoch, in the interior of Caledonia,
there is the appeai-ance of a Eoman camp upon a moor between the bridge of Spey and Pitmain ;
near this a Eoman tripod was found, which was concealed in a rock, and an urn full of burnt
ashes was dug up in clearing some ground adjacent. Stat. Acco. of Kingussie, v. iii., p. 43. In
the highlands of Perthshire, between the rivers Tay and Tummel, a Eoman medal of Trajan
was found in the parish of Logierait. lb., vol. v., p. 85 ; and see the map of Scotland for the
situation of those different places.
(d) Most of those stations are also mentioned by Ptolomy, who compiled his geography before the
middle of the second century.
(e) We have alread}- seen that the camps of Grassy-walls, Battledikes, Wardikes at Keithock,
Harefaulds, Eaedikes of Ury, and that near Invergowrie, which have been ascribed to Agricola
by Eoy and others, were not in existence at the time of making the ninth Iter in the second
century.
Ch. IV.— The Action.'^ of L. Urhwus.j OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 181
As the great northern road of the Eomans, which we have lately traced from
the wall of Antonine, through the province of Vespasiana to the post at Keithock
in Forfarshire, must have necessarily been formed during the existence of
that province, every station which was placed upon this road must have been
co-existent with the road and the province ; it is thus more than probable that
the stations of Wardikes at Keithock, of Battledikes, of Coupar- Angus, of Grassy-
waUs, tlie small post at Gask, the small post called Kemps-castle, were all
constructed by the masterly policy of Urbicus. The station of East-Findoch
also owed its origin to the same officer, as it was usefully connected with the
post at Hierna by means of a commodious vicinal way, which diverged from
the Roman road at its passage over the Earn. The judgment which placed the
station at Findoch, for commanding the only practicable passage from the
central highlands into Strathearn, equally evinces that it owed its origin to the
genius of Urbicus. From the post of Findoch a detachment of Roman troops
might have easily penetrated into the central highlands upon the Tay ; and hav-
ing surveyed this interior country with their judicious eyes, they would see the
utility of establishing a post at Fortingal, which would at once guard the pas-
sage eastward from Argyle through Glen-Lyon, and the passage southward
from the wild countries of Rannoch and of Athol. These views could have
only been perceived while the Roman garrisons guarded Vespasiana. A similar
policy formed the camp at Bochastle during the same age. This station an-
swered the double purpose of guarding the only two passes which led from the
west Highlands into Monteith and Strathallan, and even into the low country
on the Forth. In the establishment of both these posts at Fortingal and Bo-
chastle, we see the predominating policy of guarding the passes which led into
the interior of Vespasiana {/).
It was the wise dictates of the same policy that established the well-known
camp at Harefaulds, connected as it was by a vicinal way with the station at
Battledikes, on the great Roman road northward ; and commanding as it did
the centre of Angus, we may equally presume that it was constructed by the
masterly hand of Urbicus. The similarity of the structure, and the size of the
camp, which is called the Rae-dikes at Ury, to the camp of the Rae-dikes at
Glenmailin, wliich we now know is the Ituna of Richard's ninth Iter ; and its
(./■) The reasoning ia the text is confirmed by the discovery of coins: "In digging the foundation of
" a tower, about three miles east of the camp at Fortingal, there were found fourteen denarii, but none
" of them of a later date than those of Marcus Aurelius." Pennant's Tour, v. ii., p. 25. The Stat.
Acco. of Fortingal, v. ii., p. 456, speaks less distinctly of Roman coins having been found in different
places of the adjacent country.
18? A N A C C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
likeness to the camps at Battle-dikes, at Grassy-walls, and at Ardoch, may
induce the inquisitive reader to conclude that the camp at Ury was, in the same
manner, formed by the policy of Urbicus {g). At Fordun, in the Mearns, there
are the remains of a station, as we have seen, which was placed here by the
necessity of a post for commanding the country ; and we may infer, from the
judiciousness of its position in the centre of the Mearns, that the original sta-
tion was fixed at Fordun during the existence of Vespasiana, and the command
of Ubricus. It was probably the dictates of the same necessity, during the same
period, which established the strong outpost at Clattering-bridge, near the foot
of the Caim-o-mount, for checking the incursions of the mountaineers above
into the lowlands of the Mearns below.
Of the camp at Invergowrie, it is more easy to determine its policy, which
was intended to protect the northern bank of the Tay, than to fix its chrono-
logy, that probability places under the able command of Urbicus. The post of
Axdargie, which stood on an eminence above the river May, was obviously
designed to command the pass from Fife into Strathearn, through the Ochil-
hills, by the valley of the May- water ; as it thus formed one of the massy links
of the chain of stations which were placed by the policy of Urbicus for guard-
ing the defiles into Strathearn, we may pretty certainly presume that the post of
Ajrdargie was also established with so many other Roman positions while the
Koman power was at its height in Britain, while Vespasiana continued t&
occupy and command so large a portion of Caledonia. When the extent
and nature of Vespasiana, with the positions of those several stations, are con-
sidered, the necessity which demanded their establishment, and the utility
that localized each of them, Avill become apparent to the most inattentive eye.
When the Romans evacuated Vespasiana, the stations which formed its strength
and its security would be naturally relinquished. When Severus, however,
carried an army mto that region forty years afterwards, we may easily suppose
that he reoccupied and refortified such of those posts as promoted liis vengeful
designs.
The able transactions of Lollius Urbicus were at length to close with the
"beneficent policy which had given him the command of Britain. On the
7th of March, 161, died Antoninus Pius, who was immediately succeeded in
the empire by Marcus Aurelius (h). About that time, probably, Lollius
(g) See Eoy's plates, and liia accounts of those camps. Colonel Shand, in his letter to me concerning
-the Norman-dikes at Peter-Culter, says " the profile and all the other dimensions of the ditch and
"ramparts appear to be exactly as they are at Glenmailen, at Raedikes of Urij, at Battle-dikes, 9,\,
■" Grassy-walls, and at other places in Strathmore."
Qi) Tillemont's Hist., torn, ii., p. 323.
Ch. lY.—Tke Actions of L. Urhicus.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 183
Urbicus ceased to be the Proprsetor of Britain. The tranquiUty of the tribes,
which afforded no events for history to notice, is the best proof of his talents,
both for peace and war, and of the wise measures that the Romans adopted for
eflPecting their ambitious purposes.
The demise of one emperor, the succession of another, and the absence of
a governor who knew how to conciliate and to rule ; all those events gave rise
to some disturbance among the tribes. But Calphurnius Agricola being sent
to Britain as the successor of LoUius Urbicus, had the ability or the address to
enforce submission and to restore quiet {i). During the twelve years which
succeeded the year 165 no occurrences arose for the notice of history. Amidst
this tranquiUty, which shows distinctly the power of the governors and the
weakness of the governed, the Romans evacuated the whole country on the
north of the wall, except perhaps Camelon on the east, and Theodosia on the
west. The united force of the Caledonian tribes could not perhaps have
removed the Roman troops from the Burgh-head, or from the numerous forts
which enforced their obedience. The Romans relinquished the country, which
experience had taught them to regard neither as useful nor agreeable. The
advice of Augustus to set bounds to the empire, the reflections of Trajan as to
the inutility of distant territories (k), and the pressures of Aurelian, who was
preparing for a war with the Germans, were the combined motives which
directed the evacuation of the country beyond the wall in the memorable year
170, A.D. {I).
(i) Horsley's Eom., p. 52 ; Tillemont's Hist., torn, ii., p. 346.
(k) In giving a general description of tlie Roman empire under Trajan, Appian observes in his Pref.,
p. 6, " that the emperor possessed more than one half of Britain, neglecting the rest as useless, and
" deriving no profit from what he possessed."
(I) Richard, p. 52 ; Tillemont's Hist. Des Emp., torn, ii., p. 361.
184 A N AC C 0 U N T [Book I.— The Roman Period.
CHAP. V.
Of the Campaign of Severus.
WHEN the Eomans abdicated the government of the greater part of North-
Britain by evacuating the posts on the north of the wall of Antonine, the tribes
who ranged along the eastern coast from the Forth to the Varar resumed their
independence. Yet such is the effect of subjugation, that the Caledonian clans
long remained tranquU. During the misrule of Commodus, some of those tribes
are said to have passed the wall in a.d. 183, and to have pillaged the country
within that strong boundary of the empire. But Ulpius Marcellus being sent
against them easily restored tranquility, though he was ill requited by his
unfeehng master. It was more difficult to prevent the mutiny of the Roman
army under the unpopular command of Perennis. It was harder still to check
the emulations of ambition that led to those contests for the empire between
Severus, Niger, and Albinus, which, after a bloody struggle, left Severus sole
master of the Boman world. Britain adhered to Albinus ; yet, amidst so much
civil contention on the neighbouring continent, this island remained for some
years in a state of quiet.
Whether it were the defeat and death of Albinus at the battle of Lyons, in
197 A.D., or the division of Britain which had hitherto formed one province, mto
two govei-nments, or the distraction of the rulers amidst so much contention
for power ; it is certain that the Caledonians invaded the Roman territory
at the conclusion of the second century. Virius Lupus, the governor, brought
them to wish for peace ; and while Severus was still occupied in the east
with domestic insurrection or foreign war, his Lieutenant in Britain entered
into a treaty with the Mseatse and Caledonians during the year 200 («). But
(a) Barbeyrac Sup. Acco. Corps Diplom., part ii., p. 33, who quotes a fragment of Dion Cassius.
Antiquaries have differed in their opinions whether the Mseatse dwelt within or without the wall
of Antonine ; but it is to be observed, 1st, that if they had lived within the wall, the Mseatse
would have been Eoman citizens ; 2ndly, if they had been Eoman citizens, the emperor's lieu-
tenant would not have entered into a treaty with them ; 3rdly, if the Maeatae had been Eoman pro-
vincials living ivithin the wall, the Caledonians would not have assisted them against the Eomans ; and
the Maeatce were therefore a Caledonian tribe who lived without the wall in the low country,
in contradistinction to the proper Caledonians who dwelt at a greater distance in the northern coverts
of the heights.
C'h^.-p.Y.— The Campaign of Severus.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 185
this treaty, which seems to have been dictated by the necessities of both parties,
endured only till hostilities could be renewed with more hope of success. Of
this event and the renewal of warfare in 207, Severus rejoiced to hear ; be-
cause he wished to carry his family from Rome and to employ his troops.
The emperor with his usual promptitude, hastened to Britain in the year 208.
The hostile tribes hearing of his arrival sent deputies to sue for peace ; but
Severus, who was fond of war and looked for military glory, would not listen
to their proposals, and he prepared for vigorous hostilities against the objects
of his vengeance.
The classic authors who have treated of the campaign of Severus, mistak-
ingly suppose that the victorious ruler of the Roman world came into Britain
without any previous knowledge of its domestic affairs or its geographical state.
They wrote like annalists who knew nothing of the connection of the British
story, either of what had certainly passed before or what was likely to follow
after the emperor's exertions. They did not know that the coast of Britain
had been explored by the Roman fleet under Agricola ; that he had traversed
the territories of the Ottadini, Gadeni, Selgovge, Novantes, and Damnii, who,
as they resided within the Friths, submitted wholly to his power ; neither did
the classic writers advert to the fact that Lollius Urbicus had built the wall of
Antonine seventy years before, and had carried roads and established stations
from the wall to the Varar, both which remained during thirty years the
envied memorials of his skill and the certain monuments of the Roman au-
thority. They probably intended to raise the fame of Severus by supposing
him ignorant of what undoubtedly he must have known both as a soldier and
a statesman (6).
(b) Dio and Herodian, who have -written expressly of the campaign of Severus, speak con-
stantly of one wall, without recollecting that two walls had in fact been built. It has been even
doubted iu modem times whether Severus did erect a wall, though Spartian had positively said
that he did perfoiTa such a work, which was consistent with his genius and worthy of his power.
That he built a wall is certain ; that he built it nearly on the sits of Adrian's prior wall on the north
is equally certain, as we know from ancient authorities, positive remains, and expressive tradition.
See the map in Warburton's Valium Romanum ; and in Horsley's Brit. Eomana ; Tillemont's Hist,
torn, iii., p. 462-G4, who, in discussing this question, quotes affirmatively Eutropius, Orosius, Cassio-
dorus, and the Chronicle of Eusebius. The Britons of the middle ages called the wall Gual-Sever
and Mxxr-Sever, as we learn from Camden, and from H. Llwyd Commentariohim, edit. 1731, p. 612.
From the informations of Dio and Herodian, it appears more than probable — 1st, that one wall only,
the wall of Antonine, existed at the epoch of Severus's invasion, as the northern limit of the empire ;
2ndly, that the wall of Adrian, as it was no longer necessary nor useful, had been long neglected ;
and as it had been fomied from the matter which had been thrown from its ditch, it had become
Vol. I. B b
186 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
In the beginning of tlae year 209, Severus, after all those preparations, marched
from the scene of his labours into the Caledonian regions. In the civilized country
which lay between the walls and which was already opened by roads and secured
by stations, he must have met with every facility that his judgment could dhect
and his power command. He had his choice of two ways for the easy march
of his troops, the western and the eastern ; the western was the most commo-
dious, but, considering the greatness of the army which Severus led into the
Caledonian territories, we may easily suppose that he would divide his army
into two columns ; which would take their separate routes, each by one of those
roads, for the convenience of subsistence and with the policy of overawing the
intermediate tribes. Along both those principal roads there were commodious
posts which greatly facilitated the march of the Roman troops through a settled
country of more than eighty miles (c).
Being thus arrived at the wall of Antonine, Severus marched from this Prce-
tentura into the country of the Mseatse, and even penetrated into the territories
of the Caledonians without meeting with much resistance. The classic au-
thors magnify the difficulties of his march without recollecting that Agricola
had penetrated into the same country before him ; that LoUius Urbicus had
formed roads and constructed stations which pointed out his objects and pro-
moted his operations. The emperor is said, however, to have felled woods,
drained marshes, made ways, built bridges — unnecessary works seemingly,
which fatigued his troops, inured to hard labour as they were, and ruined his
army, hai'dy as it must have been. Dion assures us that Severus lost fifty
thousand men during this laborious campaign. If he marched such an army
into the i-ecesses of Caledonia without a fleet to furnish them with supplies,
completely ruinous by neglect and time ; 3rdly, Severus knew its ruinous state from inspection, and
foreseeing that a similar strength would protect Hs retreat in case of accidents, he determined to build
a stronger wall on the same site in the autumn of 208, before he marched into the north ; 4thly, both
Dio and Herodian inform us that the unworthy son of Severus relinquished to the Caledonians the forts
which Severus had built in their country ; 5thly, it is certain that Severus knew — he had built forte
among the Caledonian tribes — that the wall of Antonine was in every respect more commodious as the
limit of the empire in that quarter than a wall from the Tyne to the Solway. From those facts
and circumstances we may therefore infer that Severus as an ofiSoer and a statesman would have acted
against his own conviction, and inconsistently with common sense, if he had erected such a wall as the
Mur-Sever after his return from, a campaign, which gave him a right to assume the title of BrilanniGUS.
See those reasonings completely supported by an inscription and a chronicle which are quoted by
Horsley in his Brit. Eomana, p. 63, and which attest that the wall of Severus was built before h»
entered Caledonia.
(c) Eoy's Milit. Antiq., ch. ii.
Ch. Y—.TheCampai/jn of Severiis.2 Of N ORTH-BEIT AIN. 187
he might have lost a greater number without feeling the stroke of an enemy.
Yet such was his obstinacy of perseverance, that he penetrated so far into the
north as to be enabled to take notice of the length of the days and the short-
ness of the nights, which were both so diiferent from those of Rome (d).
Unable to resist his arms, the tribes sought for peace from his clemency.
They surrendered some of their arms, and relinquished to him part of their
country (e). After this success, which was thought at Rome to merit the title
of Im^yerator, he returned within the Roman territories. But he did not long
survive this honour or that success. Whether the Caledonian tribes had yet
learned to consider a treaty as sacred, or had advanced far enough in civiliza-
tion to know how to derive an advantage from the distraction of courts is
uncertain, but they had scarcely made their peace with Severus when they
renewed hostilities. Irritated by the odious attempt of his son Caracalla on
his life, impatient from declining health at an advanced age, he issued orders
to renew the war, and to spare neither age nor sex. But Cai-acalla, who
was entrusted with conducting the hostilities, rather busied himself in gaining
over the army to act against his brother and his father, than in executing the
vengeful orders of the dying emperor. Severus expired at York, on the 4th
(d) This observation of Dion is strengthened by an intimation of Eicliard, who has placed the Arce
Finiimi Imperii Ro7nani on the promontoiy separating the Cromarty and Moray Friths, the former
the Loxa, and the latter the Varar of that learned Monk. Tet Eoy has mistaMngly placed the
Arce Fiiiiiim Imperii Romani on the more northern point of Tarbet-ness. Ainslie has copied the
misconception of Roy, and the late survey of Murray has adopted the mistakes of both with regard to
the true site of the ArcB Finium Imperii Romani. There are remains on the more southern
promontory which fortify the position of Richard. The Stat. Account of Cromarty, v. xii., p. 259,
says that " about three miles south of this place there is a very distinct appearance of a camp
" in the figure of an oblong square, supposed to have been a Danish camp. At one corner of it
"there is the appearance of a number of graves, which make it probable that many must have
" fallen in some attack upon it." These gi-aves may denote the site of the Roman cemetery. Mr,
Robert Smith, the intelligent minister, adds that " about a mile from the encampment there is a very
" large collection of round stones, and hard by it a smaller one. Some of the stones are of a great
" size, which must have cost great labour in gathering it." There have also been some stone coffins
found near these cairns, from which circumstance we may suppose these are sepulchral tumuli. The
cairns on Tarbetness, which misled those who placed the Arm Finium Imperii Romani on that promon-
tory were found, when examined by my intelligent friend, the Eev. William Leslie of Lan-bride, to be
merely the beacons which the fishermen of the adjacent coast had erected for directing their devious
course through a troublous sea.
(c) Barbeyi-ac Supl. Corp. Dipl., Part ii., p. 35. There has been found at the well-known Roman
station at Cramond, on the Forth, a silver medal of Severus, having on the face the head of the
emperor, with the legend Seveeus Pius Aug., on the reverse Fuotjatoe Pacis. Horsley's Brit. Rom.,
p. 62 ; and Wood's Hist, of Cramond, p. 5. This important medal is a strong confirmation of the
general representations of history on that memorable occasion.
Bb2
188 AnACCOUNT [Bookl.— The Eoman Period.
of February 211, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and in the third year of his
administration in Britain (/).
Severus has been less fortunate than Agricola in his biogi'apher. The
emperor's transactions in Britain are less distinctly known than even those of
Urbicus, either from the intimations of history, or from the inscriptions of
monuments ; and it is very difficult to ascertain the dates of events that are
themselves indistinctly known. The great work of Severus was the wall which
he constructed from the Tyne to the Solway, before, as we have seen, rather
than after, he entered Caledonia. He repaired the roads and refortified the
stations which his predecessors had left him, rather than formed new ones,
which would have required consideration to contrive and time to execute. In
general, it may be observed that those roads and camps which cannot be clearly
assigned to Urbicus and Agricola may be attributed to Severus. It is certain,
however, that Roman remains which have been recently discovered in
Caledonia confirm classic authorities with regard to this memorable campaign
of the emperor Severus (g).
(/) Tillemont's Hist., torn, iii., p. 82. The last intimation shows, in opposition to Horsley, thas
Severus arrived in Britain during the year 208, and not in 206, as in Brit. Eom., p. 56-7, and hit
Chron. Tables, sub. an. 206.
(^) A Roman causeway has been discovered running in a direction from south-east to north-
west along the bottom of Flanders-Moss, which covers an extent of several miles on the north
side of the river Forth, about nine miles west from the station of Alauna on the great Eoman
road northward. In the same moss there were found several years ago a number of logs of wood
squared, and lying across each other in the form of a raft, and the marks of the axe were visible on
them. In the banks of Goody-water, which runs along the north-east side of this moss, several
oak trees of a very large size appear projecting about twenty feet below the surface ; and where
this water joins the Forth, one of these, trees, the trunk of which is near sis feet diameter, appears
at the same depth below the surface projecting nearly twenty feet. Stat. Account, v. xx., p. 91. In
the moss of Logan, which lies in the parish of Kippen, on the south side of the river Forth,
opposite to Flanders-Moss, a road has been discovered about twelve feet wide, and formed by trees
or logs of wood laid across each other. lb., v. xviii., p. 322. In the moss of Kincardine, which
occupies an extent of several miles on the north side of the river Forth, about midway between
Flanders-Moss and the station of Alauna on the great Roman road northward, there has been
discovered a Roman way twelve feet broad, and regularly formed by trees or logs of wood laid
across each other. Id. Recent improvements have discovered that the clay surface upon which
this moss is incumbent is everjrwhere thickly covered with trees, chiefly oak and birch, and many
of them of a gi-eat size. The}' are found lying in all directions beside their roots, which still con-
tinue firm in the ground in their natural position, and they exhibit evident marks of having been cut
with an axe or some similar instrument. lb., v. xxi., p. 154. And see Stobie's map of Perthshire
for the situation of those mosses. Modem science has even discovered that the vast mosses in
this vicinity owe their gradual formation to the direction of Severus for cutting down the woods
Ch. v.— The Campaign of Severus.'] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 189
Whether the son of Severus ever fought with the heroes of Ossian on the
river Carron admits of a similar doubt. It is demonstrable, however, that the
language of the Caledonian bard was not spoken within the Caledonian re-
gions for three centuries after the campaign of Severus had closed with fruit-
less efforts, though with arrogated honours. But heroic poetry requires not
authentic history to support its elegant narratives, nor to justify its ingenious
fictions. The language of Ossian became the vernacular dialect of North-
Britain at a subsequent period, and the bard may have praised the valour or
deplored the misfortunes of his countrymen in Gaelic verses, which, as they
delighted a rude people, were transmitted by tradition to their children, and
the young repeated in pleasing episodes what were thus delivered to them by
the old as the oral communications of their remote ancestors.
in order that lie might see the devoted objects of his warfare. Encyclopedia Brit., v. xii., p. 387-9 ;
add to those intimations of Eoman footsteps and Eoman arts, that in May, 1768, there was dug
up from the bottom of Kincardine moss a large round vessel of thin brass, twenty-five inches in
diameter, and sixteen inches in height, the mouth sixteen inches and a half in diameter, which is
supposed to have been a Eoman camp kettle. It was found Ipng upon a stratum of clay beneath
the moss, which is generally from seven to twelve feet deep. It was presented to the Antiquarian
Society of Scotland, by John Eamsay, the laird of Auchertyre, in April, 1782. Account of the
Antiq. Soc. of Scot., p. 94.
190 A N A C 0 0 U N T [Book l.~The lioman Period.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Treaty ivldch Caracalla made loith the Caledonians; of the Picts;
of the Scots; of the Abdication of the Roman Government.
THE demise of Severus, on the 4th of February 211, had scarcely delivered
the empire to the government of his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, when the
eldest concluded a peace with the Caledonians. Caracalla relinquished by this
treaty the territories which they had recently surrendered to his father, and
abandoned the forts which he had ambitiously erected in their fastnesses (a).
The very terras of the pacification suppose that the wall of Antonine, as it had
long been the northern limit of the empire in Britain, was to continue to be
the boundary of separation between the Roman provincials and the Caledonian
ti'ibes. The medals which have been found near the northern limit [h), and
the stations which were garrisoned far beyond the southern walls, establish
that important fact in opposition to petty difficulties (c). The rival emperors
hastened to Rome, the great scene of their ambition, taking hostages from
the Caledonian tribes for their faithful adherence to the late treaty, which
ensured, indeed, uninterrupted peace for many years [d).
Such was the wise policy of the treaty with Caracalla, which resulted from
an attention to the interest of both parties, and such was the threatening aspect
of the northern wall, that the Caledonian tribes remained quiet for almost a
(a) Barbeyrac's Corps DipL, Part ii., p. 33, wlio quotes Xipliilin for the fact. Herodian also gives
the same account of this remarkable treaty in b. iii., ch. 14.
(i) The coins of Antoninus Caracalla, and of the emperor Dioclesian, who ceased to reign in 304,
have been discovered at Cramond, where so many relics have been found. .They prove that this com-
modious port on the Forth had continued a Eoman harbour till the Eoman departure from Britain.
See Wood's Hist. Cramond Par., p. 4, 5 ; and Gordon's Itin. Sept., p. 118.
(c) Horsley's Brit. Eom., 65 ; Whit. Manch., 8vo. edit., v. ii., p. 262-65.
(.') Herodian, lib. iii., ch. 14; Barbeyrac Sup. Corps Dipl., Part ii., p. 33.
Ch. YL.— Events from 211 A.D. to HG.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 191
century, if we may judge from the continued silence of the classic authors and
from the effects resulting from those salutary measures. As they had not
much communication with the Roman provinces of the south, the Caledonian
people seem not to have interested themselves in the affairs of the Romanized
Britons within the Roman limits. As they had no knowledge of the ambi-
tious scenes which were successively acted on the theatre of Rome, the
Caledonian clans appear to have been little affected by the elevation of Caesars
or the fall of tyrants, by tlie usurpation of Carausius, by the assassination of the
usurper, or by the recovery of Britain as a province of the empire. After the
resignation of the imperial power by Diocletian and Maximian in 305, Britain
became an inconsiderable portion of the western empire under the mild
government of the virtuous Constance.
Meantime the five tribes of provincial Britons who lived within the north-
ern wall were too inconsiderable to be much interested in the revolutions of
the Roman world, but they were not perhaps too poor to be the objects of
envy to less opulent clans, who sometimes plundered what they wanted industry
to acquire and civilization to enjoy. To this cause it was probably owing, that
Constance found it necessary to come into Britain during the year 306, to
repel the Caledonians and other Picts (m). This is the first time that the Picts
appear in history. The Caledonian people had often been mentioned before
by classic authors under other names. The Caledonians were on this occasion
called Picts, owing to their peculiar seclusion from the Roman provincials on
the south of the walls, and they were often mentioned during the dechne of the
Roman empire, by orators, historians, and poets, by that significant appella-
(pi) Caledones aliique Picti are tlio significant expressions of Eumenius tlie orator, wlio in a
panegyric during the year 297, and again in 308, was tlie first who mentioned the Picti as a people.
As the learned professor of Autun knew the meaning of his own language, we are bound to regard the
Caledotiians and Picts as the same people at the end of the third century. Towards the conclusion of
the fourth century Ammianus Marcellinus also spoke of the Caledonians and Picts as the same people.
'■Eo tempore," says he, lib. xxvii., ch. vii., "Picti in duas gentos divisi, Dicalcdones et Veoturiones."
On this occasion poetry has also added her agreeable blandishments to the narratives of veracious
history in showing that the classic authors supposed, perhaps mistakingly, the custom among the
Caledonians of painting themselves to be the reason which induced those writers to speak of the
Caledonian tribes by the appropriate name of Picti. And Claudian, about the year 400, Do bella
Gtettico, alluded to them in the following lines :
" fen-oque notatos
" Perlegit exanimos Picto moriente figuras ; "
and in his panegyric on Theodosius's victories, the poet again speaks thus of the Picts :
" Ille leves Mauros, nee falso nomine Pictos
" Edomuit ."
192 AnACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
tion. The name of Picts has continued to the present day the theme of
antiquarian disputes and the designation of national history. That the Picts
were Caledonians, we thus have seen in the mention of classic authors during
three centuries ; that the Caledonians were the Nortli-Britons who fought
Agricola at the foot of the Grampian, we know from the nature of the events,
and the attestation of Tacitus ; that the Northern Britons of the first century
were the descendants of the Celtic Aborigines, who were the same people as
the southern Britons during the earliest times, has been satisfactorily proved
as a moral certainty.
The inroads of the Caledonians and other Picts were soon repelled by the
Roman legionaries under Constantius, who did not long survive his easy but
decisive success, for he died at York on the 25th of July, 306 (n). The
subsequent silence of history with regard to the future conduct of the Cale-
donians and other Picts, is the best evidence of the efficiency of his campaign.
Almost forty years elapsed befoi-e the Caledonians and other Picts again in-
fested the territories of the provincial Britons, though civil wars had meanwhile
raged ; though the metropolis of the empire had been carried to Constantinople ;
though foreign and domestic hostilities had ensued upon the death of the
great Constantine. In 343 Constance is said, on dubious authority indeed, to
have come into Britain, and by a short campaign to have repelled a feeble inroad
of the Picts (o). A silence of seventeen years again informs us, with instructive
evidence, that the provincials remained unmolested, and that the Picts were
long quiet.
While Constance, the emperor, was fully occupied with the Persians in the
east, and Julian, the Ca)sar, was equally employed with the Germans on the
frontiers of Gaul, the peace was bi'oken in Britain by the inroads of the Scots
and the Picts. The frontiers were wasted, the provincials were harassed, and
they dreaded future mischiefs from a recollection of the past. Occuj^ied with
the immediate defence of the Rhine and meditating ambitious projects, Julian
sent Lupiciuus, a capable ofiicer, with suflicient troops to repel the savage in-
cursions of the Scots and Picts [p). But his attention appears to have been
too much occupied with the commencement of the civil war between Constance
and Julian to allow him to effectuate the obj ect of his mission at that troublous
moment.
(n) Tillemont Hist, des Emp., torn, vi., p. 91.
(o) Tillemont's Hist, des Emp., torn, iv., p. 336 ; and Horsley's Brit. Eom., p. 72, who mistakingly
supposes tliat the Scots acted on that occasion in concert with the Picts.
{p) Ammian. Marcel., lib, xs., eh. iv ; Tillemont Hist., v. iv., p. 447.
Ch. VI.— Events from2nA.D. to UG.] Of N OETH-BEIT AIN. 103
The year 360 is the epoch of the first appearance of the Scottish people in
the pages of the Roman annals. Ammianus, who mentions them, at present
joins the Scots with the Picts as if they had formed one army, though they
had no connection whatever by lineage, or in neighbourhood, or in interests.
The historian himself, indeed, speaks of the Scots, in the year 367, as an
erratic people who spread much waste by their predatory excursions {q).
These descriptions do not apjily with any truth to a tribe who resided in
Britain ; and, indeed, the contemjjorary authors of that age speak of the Scots
as a transmarine people who invaded the Roman provincials from the sea,
and who came from Ireland, which was their native isle (r). The Scots were
unknown as a people during the first and second centuries, if we may regard
as satisfactory evidence the uniform silence of the classic authors of Rome and
Greece during those learned ages. The Scoticce gentes, the Scottish people, Avere
first mentioned by Porphyry, who flourished at the end of the third century ;
yet were not the Scots mentioned by Eumenius, the orator, though he was the
first to notice the Picts of North-Britain, and to distinguish the Hiberni of
Ireland.
(7) Scotti, per di versa vagantes, multa populabantur. Lib. xsvii., chap. vii.
()■) In tlae successive panegyrics of Claudian, we may see tlie historical intimations of the
coui-tly poet :
" Scottom que vago mucrone Secutus
'' Fregit Hyperboreas remis audacibus undas.
a ^^ __ __^
" Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis lerne.
totam cum Scottus lernen
" Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Tethys.
If the contest of Claudian be considered, it is impossible not to perceive that he regarded Ireland
as the country of the Scots at the commencement of the fifth age. A century and a half after-
wards Gildas also mentioned Ireland as the proper country of the Scots, a sentiment which Bede
delighted to repeat. Add to those proofs what appeared to Camden to be historical demonstra-
tions of the following jsoints : 1st, That ancient Scotland was an island; 2dljf, That ancient Scot-
land and Britain were different countries ; 3dly, That ancient Scotland and Ireland were not differ-
ent conntries. Camdeni Epistolae, 1G91, p. 70, and App. N. ii. Now, these points being time, it
follows that the Scots of Ammianus Marcellinus and of Claudian were not then settled in Britain,
but came from Ireland when they invaded the Eoman tenitories during the period from the year
360 to 4-16. Those proofs seem not to have been attended to by Gibbon, when he so absolutely
decided, that as early as the reign of Constantine, the northern region was divided between the
two great tribes of the Scots and Picts. Hist, of the Decline and Fall, 8vo edit. 4th vol., 291-95.
Orosius, who lived during the 5th century, says expressly : " Hibernia insula inter Britanniam et
Hispaniam sita ; — et a Scotorum gentibus colitur." Ed. 1536, p. 20-1. These intimations of a
contemporary author seem to be decisive.
Vol. I. C 2
194 An ACCOUNT [Book l.—T/ie Roman Period.
The accession of Valentinian to the empire in 3G4 a.d., is the epoch of a fresh
attack on the Roman provincials in Britain by the Picts, who wei-e in that
age divided into two tribes, by the name of Dicaledones and Vecturiones ;
of the Attacots, a warhke clan who occupied the shores of Dunbarton and
Cowal ; and of the Scots, who, as we have just seen, were an erratic tribe from
the shores of Ireland, and who wasted the coasts of South-Britain by their
successive incursions (s). The attack of 364 a.d., seems to have been more
general and destructive than any former incursion by the same people. After
the appointment and the recall of Severus and of Jovien as commanders of
the Roman troops in the British island, Theodosius, who had gained the greatest
reputation as an officer, was sent to Britain in 367, to restore tranquillity to
a very disturbed people. He is said to have found the Picts and Scots in the
act of plundering Augusta, the London of modern times. But this improba-
bility was reserved for the ignorance or the inattention of modern writers to
assert (<)• The prudence and valour of Theodosius, however, restored in
the two campaigns of 368 and 369, the tranquility of Britain, by suppressing
domestic insurrection and by repelling foreign invasion ; by his prudence he
restored the cities, strengthened the fortifications, and repaired the wall of An-
tonine ; and by his policy he added to the four provinces which already
existed in Britain, the country lying between the southern and northern
wall as a fifth province, by the name of Valentia, which Valentinian thus de-
nominated in honour of Valens, whom he had early associated with him in the
empire (w). Poetry and panegyric equally bestowed their blandishments on
the successful enterprises of Theodosius ; but the result of his measures has
conferred in every subsequent age more honourable fame ; the thirty years
(.«) Am. Marcellinus. lib. xxvii. cb. vii. The Attacotti, as we know from Eichard, inhabited the
whole country lying between Loch Lomond on the east and Loch Fyne on the west, during the
second century. Dwelling thus along the northern shore of the Clyde, they had only to cross the
Frith in order to attack the Roman provincials who inhabited Renfrew and Ayr.
(t) Ammianus Marcellinus, who gives a particular account of the expedition of Theodosius, lib.
sxvii., chap, vii., says nothing of that improbability. Gibbon, who gives some countenance to
what was too absurd for positive assertion, states minutely the causes which had diffused through
this island a spirit of discontent and revolt. The oppi'ession of the good and the impunity of the
wicked equally contributed, says he, to subvert the weak and distracted government of Britain.
Hist, of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Emp., 4th vol., 8vo edit., p. 296-7. Thus, domestic
revolt and foreign invasion both concurred to ruin the provincials, and to call for the protection of
such an officer as Theodosiiis, whose talents wore equally fitted for the legislation of peace as for
the struggles of war.
(?() Ammian. Marcellinus, lib. xxvii., ch. vii.
Ch. YL— Events Jrom 211 A.D. to 44G.] 0 r N 0 E T H - B E I T A I N. 195
quiet of Britain which ensued bears the most indubitable testimony to the
vigour of his arms and the efficacy of his wisdom.
Yet, amidst an age when the Roman empire was attacked without by the
surrounding tribes, and enfeebled within by domestic parties, the Scots from
Ireland and the Picts from Caledonia renewed their depredations on the British
provmcials during the year 398. Stilicho, who supported a falling empire
l)y the strength of his talents, sent such effectual aid as enabled the governors
to repel the invaders, to repair the northern wall, and to restore general quiet {x).
The grateful poetry of Claudian has preserved the great actions of Stilicho,
which the historical coldness of Zosimus had consigned to obli\non.
The decline of the Roman empire brought with it every sort of disorder, in
addition to its weakness. The revolt of the troops in Britain transferred, in
407, the government to Gratian ; and after his death, to Constantine, who car-
ried the army that had conferred on him the purple to Gaul in order to
maintain, however unsuccessfully, their own choice. The disgrace and death
of Stilicho, in 408, auginented all those evils. While the empire was oppressed
by the invasions of barbarians from every nation and of every name, the
British provincials, who continued to be harrassed by the Scots from the west,
and by the Picts from the north, assumed a sort of independence, which was
founded in the necessity of self-defence. Honorius, feeling his inability to de-
fend this distant province amid so many attacks, directed the British cities to
rule and defend themselves [ij).
But their inexperience soon occasioned them to feel theu' own weak-
ness ; and m 422 A.D., though the walls were then garrisoned by Ro-
man troops, the provincials again applied for additional protection against
the desultory attacks of predatory j^eople, who could be more easily re-
pelled than tranquillized. A legion is said to have been sent, who chas-
tised the invaders, and, for the last time, repaired the fortifications
that had long overawed the Pictish tribes (z). From this epoch the pro-
(»•) The verses of Claudian have been alreadj' quoted. From them we may learn Tvith a little
extension of his sense, that Stilicho had assisted the British provincials who were attacked by the
Scots that had armed all Ireland against them. Of the Scots, Tillemont remarks, " that they still,
" without doubt, dwelt in Ireland. Of the Picts, that critical historian observes that they were
" the ancient inhabitants of North-Britain ; but, as they had been repressed by Stilicho, they were
" no longer formidable to the British provincials." The Saxons, also, who in that age began to infest
the shores of Britain, as they had been lately chastised by Theodosius, were repelled by Stilicho.
Tillemont Hist, des Emp. 4 torn., p. 503.
((/) Zosimus, lib. vi. ch. v. ; Barbeyrac Supl. Corps Dipl., Part ii., p. 72.
{z) Barbeyrac Supl. Corps Dipl., Part ii., p. 77 ; and Pagi, sub an 422.
0 c 2
196 An ACCOUNT [Book I.— The Roman Period.
vincials enjoyed twenty years repose. The year 446, when -^tius was consul
for the third time, is the memorable epoch when the British provincials ac-
knowledged themselves to be Roman citizens, by their supplication to that able
supporter of a degenerate state for fresh assistance ; but he was unable to gratify
their desire of help owing to the jjressures of the bai'barians upon Gaul.
The provincials were again told, in a more desponding tone, that they must
rely on their own efibrts for their future government and effectual defence.
The abdication which Honorius seemed willing to make in a.d. 409, ^tius
thus more completely effected in a.d. 446 (a).
(rt) Some couhaiiety of opinions has arisen between ignorance and refinement, with, regard to the
true epoch of the cessation of the Koman government in the British island. The recall of the
Koman legions, at particular periods of the fifth century, is supposed by some to give a hmit to
the continuance of the Eoman power. But the march of the legions from one province to an-
other of a most extensive empire did not alter the nature of the government any more than the
chano-e of quarters of a British regiment from one American province to another operates as a
relinquishment of British jurisdiction over provinces which were thus meant only to be relieved or
supported. The mere march of a legion, or a regiment, could produce no change in the jurisdic-
tion, without the signification of the will of the government. The historian of the decline and fall ■
of the Eoman empire seems to be the fu-st who, from the intimation of Zosimus, and a passage
of Procopius, settled the independence of the British cities as early as the year 409. Hist. 8vo.
ed. vol. v., p. 364. But his facts may be admitted without acknowledging his inferences. Ho-
norius by his letter directing the cities to defend and govern themselves, did no more in 409
than George 11. did in 1756, when he urged his American provinces to exert their own powers
in their own defence. The conduct of the Britons from 409 to 446, confinns this reasoning.
The ''independent Britons raised 12,000 men for the service of the emperor Anthemius in Gaul."
Hist, of the Decl. and Fall, 5th vol., p. 364. " The independent Britons implored and acknow-
" ledo-ed the salutary aid of Stilicho.' lb. vol. vi., p. 91. These facts prove, with sufficient
conviction, notwithstanding the blandishments of historical eloquence, that the independent Britons
still thought themselves the dependent citizens of the Eoman empire, who were bound to give assist-
ance, and were entitled to receive protection. Forty years afterwards the Eoman provincials
applied to ^tius for similar help, without receiving the same aid, because other concerns were
more urgent. The account of this transaction, which has been transmitted by GUdas, is so cir-
cumstantial, that we cannot altogether disbelieve him without doing violence to our historical
faith. If what GUdas asserts be true, that the Britons applied to J^tius, during his third consulate
for military protection, this fact would prove that they still considered themselves, and were plainly
regarded by others, as Eoman provincials. The curious notices of Gildas, who died in 570, is con-
firmed— 1st, By the Notitia, which shows that Eoman troops remained in the gaiTisons of the
northern fence till towards the middle of the fifth century ; Whit. Hist, of Manch., 8vo. edit., vol. ii.,
p. 261-69 ; 2dly, By the long continuance of Eoman stations within the province of Valentia ;
Wood's Hist, of Cramond, p. 1-12 ; 3dly, By the finding in England of the coins of Arcadius,
Honorius, and Valentinian, the third. Horsley's Brit. Eom.. p. 75. Eichard concurs with Gildas in
these important notices, p. 55.
Ch. VI.— Events from 211 A. D. to AiG.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 197
The time was at length arrived when the Roman empire, which was now
pressed on all sides by irresistible hordes, was to shrmk back from the boun-
daries that in her ages of ambition she had fixed at too great a distance for
her own security or repose. As the Romans receded, then- numerous invaders
advanced. New states were successively formed ; and Europe may be said
to have assumed, during the fifth century, new appearances that are still to be
discerned ; and to have adopted various institutions which continue to impart
their influences to the present times, after the revolutions of many centuries.
1S8 AsACCOUXT [Bock IL—The Pictish Period.
BOOK II.
THE PICTISH PEEIOL. 446 AJ). MS.
CHAP. I.
Oft}ie Picts; their Lineage; their Ciril Sisiory, and Larvguage ; with a Review
oftlue Pictish Question.
THE Pietish Period, extending from the abdication of the Romans in a.d. 446
to the overthrow of the Pictish government in 843 A.D., will be found from
its notices to comprehend interesting events. At the epoch of Agricola's in-
vasion, the ample extent of North-Britain was inhabited, as we have seen, by one-
and-twentv Gaelic clans, who were connected by such slight ties as scarcely to
enjoy a social state. At the period of the Boman abdication there remained
in Korth-Britain only one race of men, the genuine descendants of those
Caledonian clans ; the sixteen tribes who ranged unsubdued beyond the wall
of Antonine, under the appropriate denomination of the Picts ; the five southern
tribes of kindred people who, as they remained under the Roman jurisdiction,
seem to have been considerably civilized by the adoption of Roman arte ; but
the Arigles had not yet arrived within the Ottadinian territories on the Tweed;
and the Scots still continued in Ireland, their original country. The sixteen
tribes of proper Picts acquired from their independence higher importance when
they were no longer overawed by the Roman power, and they will be imme-
diatelv found to have been the dominatingr nation throughout four centuries of
the North-British annals. The five Romanized tribes of Valeritia, who had
long enjoyed the instructive privilege of Roman citizenship, will soon app>ear to
have assumed the character of an independent people, who established fur them-
selves their own goverrmient. Two new races of men ere long arrived within
the Caledonian regions, who not only saddened the enjoyments, but at length
eclipsed the glories of the Caledonian Britons. The Arigles early settled on the
Tweed and erewhile obliged the Ottadini to relinquish for ever, as we shall
see, their beloved domains. At the end of half a century, the Scotg of Ireland
colonized Argyle, and spreading themselves over the circumjacent districts
Ch. l.—ne Picts.2 OfNOETH-BEITAIN. is»
superseded the Pictisli government as we shall perceive, after the bloody-
struggles of three hundred and forty years. It mast be the business of this
Pictisli Period of the North-British annals to trace the singular histoiy of all
those people ; the Caledonian Picts, the Romanized Britons, the Angles of Lo-
thian, the Scots of Ai-gyle, throughout the various events of their obscure
warfare, and the successive turns of their revolutionary changes.
The lineage of the Pictish people has been disputed, though without any valid
reason, as if there could be a doubt whether they were of a Celtic or of a
Gothic origin. But their genealogy may be clearly traced through three con-"'
secutive changes — from the Gauls to the Britons ; from the Britons to the
Caledonians : and from the Caledonians to the Picts — thus changfinof their
names but not their nature (a). During many an age before our common
era, Gaul was the splendid scene wherein the Celts displayed, before the intelli-
gent eyes of the Roman people, the peculiai'ities of their religion, the oiiginality
of their customs, and the singularity of their manners. The Gaelic Celts
who emigrated to Biitain brought with them into this island all those dis-
tiuguishmg features, with their original language (6). One of the most striking
points of comparison between Gaul and Britain, was the geogi'aphical divisions
of the country and the civil institutions of the people. Graul appears to have
been in every age cantoned among many clans, who were each independent of
the whole. South-Britain was in the same manner divided among many tribes.
North-Britain, at the memorable invasion of Agricola, was cantonized among
one-and-twenty clans, who seldom united in any common measui-e, as they
were involved in eternal warfare. In Gaul, in South and in North-Britain, we
(a) Bede, who was contemporary witii the Pictish govemment, speaks doubtfully of the Picts
as the second people who came into this island from Scythia — first to Ireland, and thence to
North Britain. But though Bede states all this rather as what he had heard than as what he knew,
his authority has deluded many wiiters who did not inquire whether what he had said modestly could
possibly be true. Bede, 1. i., cap. 1. We now know from more accurate examination that the
Picts were certainly Caledonians ; that the Caledonians were Britons ; and that the Britons were
Gauls. It is the topography of North Britain during the second and first centuries, as it contains a
thousand facts, which solves aU those doubts, and settles aU controverey about the lineage of the Picts.
See before, b. i., ch. 1, 2.
(6) J. Csesar and Tacitus are already quoted : Schoepflin ViiuUctae Celtica, p. 97-115 ; Burton's
Antoninus, p. 170: Monde Primitif., t. 5; Prelim. Discourse; and the Dniver. Hist., v. xviii., with
the map annexed ; Camden's Brit, of the first inhabitants. A comparison of the names of places in
Oaul and in Britain would add the demonstration of facts to the decision of authorities. Buchanan
actually made such a comparison. Man's ed., p. 52-4 ; and he undertook to demonstrate the same-
ness of speech, and thence an affinity between the Gauls and the Britons from the names of their towns,
rivers and countries.
200 A N A C 0 0 U N T [Book U.—The Pictish Period.
may perceive a strong principle of division, the peculiar characteristic of the
Celts, producing the direful effects of perpetual enmity during domestic peace,
and constant weakness amidst foreign war. This common principle of the
Celtic people which prevented the association of large communities, and ob-
structed the establishment of a vigorous government, has continued to vex and
enfeeble their descendants in Gaul and in Britain, even down to our own
times.
There was another piinciple which was peculiar to those Celtic people, and
which has involved their aflPairs both within Gaul and throughout Britain in lasting
darkness. They made it a constant rule never to commit anything to writing,
\, according to a settled maxim, that it was more glorious to perform great actions
than to write in good language (c). The observance of that nile, whether it
proceeded from military ardovu' or from superstitious observances, has covei'ed
the antiquities of their British descendants with undiminished mists.
We have, however, seen distinctly during the first and second centuries
North-Britain inhabited by one-and-twenty distinct tribes {d). The most
powerful of those clans, the Caledonians, seem early to have given a genei'al
denomination to the whole. In the succinct biography of Tacitus those tribes
who opposed Agricola are either denominated Britanni or Horestii or
Caledonii, whose country was analogically denominated by liim Caledonia.
The origin of all those Roman names are to be found, as we have seen, in the
language of the British people themselves ; and the celebi-ated appellation
Caledonia was merely Romanized from the Celyddon of the Britons, that owed
its origin to the woods which spread in ancient times over the interior and
western parts of the country lying beyond the Forth and Clyde, and which
were mentioned emphatically before the age of Tacitus by Pliny as the
Caledonian forest (e).
(c) Caesar's Com., 1. vi. ; Univer. Hist., v. sviii., p. 539. (rf) Before, book i., ch. ii.
(e) Book i., ch. xvi. The distant source of all those distinctive appellations may be traced back
to the appropriate quahties of the things signified. The most common and early distinctions
of regions being the open plains and the woodlands or forests, those obvious quahties gave rise to the
two leading appellations of Gal and of Celt : the first denoting the open country, and the second the
covtrt. Of the same import with Gal and its derivatives are Gwal, Peithu, Gwynedd, Gtrent, and
Sylhrf/, signifying open or clear rer/ions. With Celt may be classed Cebjddon, Gwi/ddel, and T.'^goed,
importing the coverts. See Owen's Diet, in vo. Gal, Celt, Celyzon, Peithi, etc. As the interior and
mountainous districts of North Britain were in early ages covered with an extensive forest, the British
people who colonized that part of our island gave it the descriptive appellation of Cebjddon, signifying
in their language the coverts. The inhabitants of the forest were, according to the idiom of their
speech, called Cehtddoni. Crh/ddnniaiJ : ;ind the British terms Celyddon and Celyddoni were merely
Ch. I.— The Picts.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 201
As other ancient people both of Asia and of Britain had been marked by-
very different appellations, while they appeared under various aspects to inqui-
sitive geographers and to subsequent writers, the Caledonians were also known
by very different names during successive periods of their annals. Under the
reign of Severus, the Caledonian tribes were noticed by classic writers under
the names of MceatcB and of Caledonians, as we learn from Dio and Herodian ;
but they intimate at the same time that other tribes also lived in that age
within the Caledonian territories [f). The Caledonian people were called by
Ammianus Marcellinus, Di-Caledones and Vecturiones, with an eye to their
appropriate site or to the face of the country, when they invaded the Roman
province in 368 a.d. ((/). The Caledonians in the meanwhile acquired,
towards the conclusion of the third century, from an obvious cause, the com-
prehensive appellation of Picti, which, before the end of the fourth century,
superseded every other name. It was undoubtedly the orator Eumenius_
who, in his panegyric on Constantius during the year 297, first called the
people of Caledonia Picti ; and who certainly speaks of the Caledonians and
other Picts as the same people. The classic writers of that age seem, indeed,
latinized by tlie Romans Caledonia and Caledonii. As tlie division of the country was mucli the
largest to which the term Cehjddon was properly applicable, this name, in its latinized foiTa of
Caledonia, was usually extended by the Latin writers to the whole peninsula of North Britain which
lay northward of the Forth.
(/) Dio, book Ixxvi. ; Herodian, book iii. The Picts were unknown to Dio and Herodian,
who lived in the third century. As the Mseatae lived immediately beyond the wall of Antonine,
and were known to the Eoman officers from their frequent invasions of the Romanized Britons
within Valentia, we may easily suppose that they obtained their Roman-British name from that
striking circumstance ; and they were thus called Meiadi, which signified in the British speech
the people who take the field or go out to war. See Owen's Diet, in vo. Meiad, signifying in
the British those going out to war, those talcing the field ; and so Meia signifies to take the field or to
go out to war.
{fj) As the De of the British speech signified merely a separation or a parting, so the De-Caledones
meant only the separated Caledonians who lived without the Eoman provinces in the western and
northern part of Caledonia, and who were thus distinguished from the Vecturiones that dwelt along
the eastern coast from the Forth to the Varar. As this open country obtained from the British pro-
vincials the descriptive appellation of Peithw, so the inhabitants of it were consequently termed Peiiht,
Peithwijr, Peithuyron, all which terms denoted the people of the open country. The only differ-
ence between the British words Peithi and Peithwyron is that the former is a more general, and the
latter a more special term, the same in import as the English and English?HeH. The British words
Peithi and Peith-iryron would naturally be latinized by the Romans into Picti and Pecturones, or rather
Vecturones ; for the (th) of the British are represented by the (ct) in the Latin in such words as have
an analogy, and (p) in the British also changes to (f), for which the Eomans used (v), as Varar for
Farar, and Varis for Faris.
Vol. I. D d
202 An ACCOUNT. [BookTI.— The Picttsh Period.
to regard the Picti as merely another name for Caledones (h). This position is
fairly acknowledged by an enquu-er who had examined the point, and found it
clearly proved, hy classic authors, that the Picti and Caledones were the same
people (i).
(h) See tills point ably discussed in Innes's Critical Essay, v. i., p. 42-57.
(i) Enquiry into the Ancient History of Scotland, 1789, v. i., part iii., ch. i. " Caledones
" aliique Picti " are the significant expressions of Eumenius the orator, who knew the meaning
of his own tenns. There is a third system maintained by the ingenious editor of the Scottish Songs,
1794. Hist. Essay, p. 12. This system consists in supposing that a great part of North-
Britain was, even before the invasion of Biitain by the Eomans, inhabited by a people called Ptcts,
Pils, or Pechts, who are by some thought to have come from Scandinavia, and to have driven out
the ancient inhabitants ; but let them come from where they would, he adds, they were still a
Celtic colony, and spoke a dialect at least of the language of the original inhabitants. This was the
system of Buchanan. For these assumptions, however, that a people called Picts, Piks, or Pechts
inhabited any part of North Britain, even before the invasion of Britain by the Eomans 55 3-ears
A.C., I have found in the course of my researches neither fact nor authority nor intimation ;
neither did Ptolomy, nor Eichard, nor Camden, nor Selden, nor Innes, find any evidence for such
a position as that the Picts were known by that name three centuries and a half before Eumenius
pronounced in 297 a.d. his panegyric on Constantius. On the contrary, there is proof that
the Picts, who were then first called by that name, were merely Caledonians. Eumenius, who first
spoke of the Picts, again mentions them in 308 as Caledonians. He adds : "Nun dico Caledomnn
'■ aliorumque Pictorum." Ammianus Marcellinus, who died about the year 390, speaks still more
distinctly on this head, 1. ssvii., § viii. : " Illud tameu sufficiet dici, quod eo tempore Picti in duas
" gentes divisi Di-caledones et Vecturiones." And Innes, who wrote critically on this subject,
concludes in v. i., p. 48 : " from all this it seems clearly to follow that the people who began
"first in the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century to be called Picts by the
" Eoman writers were not new inhabitants in the island, but the same ancient inhabitants of those
"northern provinces so well known in the former ages by the name of Caledonians." The
history of the fable which traces the origin of the Picts to a Scandinavian rather than a Celtic
source is very short. Tacitus talked about the origins of the Caledonians and Germans like
a man who was not very skilful in such investigations, and who preferi-ed declamation to inquiiy.
Cassiodorus, the secretary of a Gothic court, who undertook to write a history of the Goths, was
the first theorist that endeavoured, with preposterous industry, to derive every people from Scan-
dinavia, which at all times was still more cold and barren and less populous than it is at present.
His example was followed by the puerile writers of the middle ages. The learning and industry
of the last two centuries have failed egregiously in establishing the position of Cassiodorus, un-
less, indeed, we admit confidence for investigation, assertion for facts, and dogmatism for reasoning.
The original colonists were demonstrably Gaelic Britons. Their descendants must be allowed to
remain in the country of their fathers, unless it can be proved by evidence, which inquiry has
not yet found, that they were dispossessed by invading adventurers of a different race ; and
history, geography, and philology, all conem- to attest, in opposition to conjecture, that the pro-
bability of the before mentioned deduction is carried up to certainty by the fact. There is a succinct
history of the Picts, by Henry Maule, which was printed at Edinburgh in 1706, and which con-
curs in all those puints with the foregoing intimations without the same proofs. Camden,
t>
Ch.l.— The Fids.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 203
The change, then, did not so much happen m the nature of the ancient tribes
as in the form of their name ; and it is moreover apparent from the silence
of history that no people of a different lineage had yet settled within the Cale-
donian regions (k). As the Greeks had been in successive ages called Pelas-
gians, Hellenes, and Achaians ; as the Latins had acquired various appellations
with their several fortunes ; as the Goths had been denominated, from several
changes in their situation, Getes, Gaudse, Daces, Tyragetes ; as the Saxons,
who were unknown to Tacitus by this celebrated name, had been in the same
manner called by the very dissimilar names of Cimbri, Chauci, Saevi ; so the
northern Britons were denominated, from their significant language, by foreign
writers, the Caledonians, and the Ma3at8e, the Di-caledones, and Vectui'iones ;
and finally the Picts, a name which has puzzled all the antiquaries. These
distinguished descendants of the Caledonians acquired their appropriate name
during the Ptoman period from their relative situation and local qualities, as
compared with the Romanized Britons, who lived in the province of Valentia
within the Roman wall. The Picts dwelt without the province, and roamed free
from the Roman authority, and separated from the Romanized tribes within,
who often felt their vigorous incursions, and frequently required the protection
of the Roman government. In the British speech the Picts were, from those
distinctive qualities, called Peithi, which was naturally latinized by Roman
writers into Picti, when they came, during the third century, to be the objects
of Roman observation, by assimilating the British term to their own familiar
word Picti, which was descriptive of the custom of painting the body that the
Romans saw among the Northern Britons^ (2)7 ' '
however, was the first great authority who gave it as his opinion that the Picts were the genuine
descendants of the ancient Britons ; and Selden, after discussing what former writers had said
on the origin of the Picts, advises the reader " rather to adhere to the learned Camden, who
" makes the Picts very genuine Britons, distinguished only by an accidental name." Polyolbion, p.
128. Camden and Selden both mean Caniiro-Britons.
(Jc) Every research, by whomsoever conducted, has egregiously failed in bringing any evidence to
prove that a Gothic people settled in North-Britain before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, dui-ing the
fifth century of our common era. The topography of North-Britain demonstrates that a Gothic
people did not settle in North-Britain before the settlement of the Sasons. See before, b. i., ch. i. ii.
Learning and diligence cannot establish falsehood in opposition to tnith.
(Z) Peithi signifies in the British speech, those that are out or exposed, the people oj the open countr;/,
the people of the waste or desert, also those who scout, ivho lay waste. Owen's Diet. In such
Boman and British words as have an analogy, the (th) of the British are expressed by the (ct) of
the Roman, as we have observed ; thus the Welsh Velfhin, a weaver's slay, is the Latin Fecten ; and
the Effai^A of the Welsh is the Effec^us of the Latin. It may be moreover observed : 1 . The name
Dd2
204 An ACCOUNT [Book U.—Thc Pictish Period.
During the second century Caledonia was inhabited by sixteen tribes, as we
have seen, the genuine descendants of the aboriginal colonists. The eventful
effluxion of three ages may have produced undoubtedly some changes, both
in the position and the power of tribes, who were restless from their habits and
inimical from their manners. As a Celtic people, they inherited from their
remote ancestors, a strong principle of disunion. At the disastrous epoch of
Agricola's invasion, they associated, indeed, together under Galgac, their Pen-
dragon, as the British word implies. During successive eras of hostile irruptions,
of Picti first appeared in Soman writers, when tlie Romans had long relinquished their province of
Vespasiana, the appropriate countiy of the Plots. 2. The Peithi and Peith-iwjr are the usual
terms for the Pictish people in the oldest Welsh poets. 3. On the confines of Wales, those
Britons who threw off their allegiance to their native princes and set up a regulus of their own,
or adhered to the Saxons, were called Peithi or Picti. Thus a Welsh poet of the seventh century,
celebrating "mic (myg) Dinbich," "the renown of Denbigh," says, '•' addowjm gaer )'sydd ar
" gliis Phicfifi ; " a fair town stands on the confines of the Picti. 4. In fact, the Welsh, to dis-
/l tinguish the northern from the southern Picts, called the Caledonian Picts by the appellation of
f Gwyddi/l Pichti or Gwyddyl Fichti, the (p) of the British being frequently changed to (f).
I The Picts, like other ancient people, have received in the progi-ess of their affaiis and during
their change of circumstances, other names. The ancient Welsh applj- the tenii Brython and
Brythonig to the Picts. Owen's Diet., in vo. Brython. And the ancient Welsh, by applying the
terms Brython and Brythonig to the Picts, show that they considered them as Britons ; from this
application of Brython to the Picts, we may infer that the earliest of the classic writers, in calling
the Picts by the name of Britons merely adopted the British appellation. We may here discover,
perhaps, the real origin of the term Britons, as applied to the most ancient colonists of our island,
and not from the name of the country, as often is supposed. The Irish at a much later period
applied to the Picts the name of Cruithneach, which O'Brien mistakingly supposes to be a
comiption of Brithneach, from Brit, variegated, painted. But the fact is, that the old Irish
name for the country of the Picts is Cruithin-Tuath, and of the Pictish people Cruithnich, according
to O'Brien and Shaw ; now, Cruithin-Tuath literally means A^oriA-Britain, as the Irish adjunct
Tuath signifies north, and Cruithnich or Cruithneach denotes the Britons or British people, being
/ regularly formed from Cruithia, in the same manner as Erinach, Irishmen, is formed from Erin,
w7 Ireland, and Albanach, Scotsmen, from Allan, the British name of Scotland. The L-ish terms,
Cruithin and Cruithnich were bon-owed from the British Brijthin and Brythiiiyg. the Irish sub-
stituting, according to their idiom, the initial C for the B of the British. In many words of the
same meaning in these two kindred dialects, where the British has P or B, the L-ish has C, as the
following examples show : —
British.
Ibish.
English.
Pen,
—
Cean,
—
a head.
Pren,
—
Cran,
—
a tree.
Pryn,
—
Crean,
—
a buying, purchasing
Pluv,
—
Clximvh,
—
down feathers.
Pasg,
—
Caisg,
—
Easter.
Bras,
—
Craos,
—
fat, gluttony.
Ch. I.— The Pkts.'] Of NOETH- BEIT AI N. 205
they were probably influenced by similar motives to renew their associations,
and to choose a pendragon whose authority was dictated by the occasion, and
whose power was supported by the necessity. The Pictish ruler, at the epoch
of the Eoman abdication, was Drust, the son of Erp, who had long directed the
Pictish expeditions against the Koman provincials, and who, from his frequent
entei'prizes, acquired, in the poetic language of the Irish annalists, the character-
istic name of Drust of the hundi'ed battles.
To the energetic principle of necessary union, we may trace up the obsciu'e
origin of their princes, whose jurisdiction must have been extremely limited, and
whose oflice in that age was scarcely transmissible. Bede, amidst some fable,
has transmitted a curious notice with regard to the succession of the Pictish
kings, which intimates that when any doubt arose the succession went rather to
the female than to the male line (m). The fact, however, is, that the uncle was
generally preferred to the son because he was usually more fit for the govern-
ment of such a people in such an age. The irregularity of their successions
attests the instability of their power. The authentic chronicles of the Picts at
once confirm the fact, and show the names and series of the Pictish kings, with '
the extent of the reigns of each, from the epoch of the Roman abdication to
the sad era of the Pictish overthrow (/i) ; and I have thrown all those notices
into the comprehensive form of
(m) Hist., lib. i., cap. i.
(n) Innes merits lasting commendation for being the first to discover, and to publish in his
Critical Essaij, the Chronica de Oeiqine Antiquoeum Pictoeum, from a MS. in the Colber-
tine library, which MS. had once belonged to Lord Burghley, and had in that period been seen
by Camden. App., N. ii. The authenticity of this Chronicon has not been questioned even by
scepticism. It may be supported indeed by collateral circumstances. Bede, Nennius, Hoveden,
Simeon of Durham, and other English writers recite facts which confinn the authenticity of the
Chronicon, and also support the succession of the kings. Innes, vol. i., p. 111-122, 137-9.
For, as the facts coincide with the Chronicle, the coincidence demonstrates the truth. In giving
the following Chronological Catalogue of the Pictish kings, I have adhered as near as might
be to the series of the sovereigns, the spelling of the names, and the extent of their reigns, which
appear in the Chronicle. There is nothing more authentic or satisfactory in the early annals of
any country.
206
x\.x ACCOUNT [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OP THE PICTISH KINGS.
Tlieir
Their
Their
Their
Series.
Their Names and Filiation.
Accessions.
Reigns.
Deaths.
1
Deust, the son of Erp.
in 451 A.D.
2
Taloec, tlie son of Aiiel.
in 451 A.D.
Dui-5 4 yrs.
455
3
Necton Mokbet, the son of Erp.
455
25
480
4
Deest Guethinmoch.
480
30
510
5
Galanatj Etelich.
510
12
522
6
Dadeest.
522
1
523
7
Deest, the son of Girom.
523
1
524
Deest, the son of Wdrest, with the former.
524
5
529
Deest, the son of Girom, alone.
529
5
534
8
Gaetnach, the son of Girom.
534
7
541
9
-GEALTEiUJt, the son of Girom.
541
1
542
10
Talorg, the son of Muircholaich.
542
11
553
11
Deest, the son of Munait.
653
1
554
12
Galam, with Aleph.
554
1
555
Galam, wltli Bridei.
555
1
556
13
■ Beidei, the son of Mailcon.
556
30
586
14
Gaetnaich, the son of Domelch.
586
11
597
15
Nectu, the nephew of Verb.
597
20
617
16
CiNEOCH, the son of Luthrin.
617
19
636
17
Gaenaed, the son of Wid.
636
4
640
18
Bridei, the son of Wid.
640
5
645
19
■''^ Taloee, their brother.
645
12
657
20
Talloecan, the son of Enfret.
657
4
661
21
Gaetnait, the son of Donnel.
661
61
667
22
Dhest, his brother.
667
7
674
23
Beidei, the son of Bili.
674
21
695 ■
24
Taean, the son of Entifldich.
695
4
699
25
Beidei. the son of Dereli.
699
11
710
26
Nechton, the son of Dereli.
Deest, and Elpin.
Ungus, the son of Urguis.
710
15
725
27
725
730
5
730
28
31
761
29
Bridei, the son of Urguis. ^J^t-**^-**'-?
CiOTOD, the son of Wredech. ^'
761
2
763
30
763
12
775
31
Elpin, the son of Bredei.
775
3i
779
32
Deest, the son of Talorgan. ='--'-r-.
779
5"
784
^- 33
Taloegan, the son of Ungus, , . c-Z'/u.^ <"
784
2i
786
34
Canaul, the son of Tarla. ^
786
5
791
35
Costantin, the son of Urguis.
791
30
821
36
Ungus (Hungus), the son of Urguis.
821
12
833 •
37
Deest, the son of Constantine, and Talorgan, )
the son of Wthoil. j
833
3
836
38
Uden, the son of Ungus.
836
3
839
39
Wrad, the son of Bargoit.
839
3
842
40
Beed.
842
1
843 {o)
(o) This Chronological Table is amply supported in Innes's Critical Essay, v. i., from p. Ill to 117.
In the Chronicon of Dunblain there is a genealogical series of the Pictish kings. Innes's MS. Collec-
tions ; and see the Enquiry, 1789, v. i., p. 295, for a series of the Pictish Mngs.
Ch. l.—Tlie Fkts.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 207
The names of those kings are undoubtedly Cambro-British, yet is it not
easy to regain their true appellations, which have been perverted by ignorance (2:)).
But it is vain to assign qualities to those kings any farther than events ascer-
tain facts, which will be hereafter stated in their narrative order. The historians
who adorn them with virtues or disfigure them with vices, without documents
to justify imputations, only show their own propensities, and delude the reader.
(^j) The names of the Pictish kings have not any meaning in the Teutonic, and they are
therefore Celtic. They are not Irish, and consequently they are British, as the following notes
will show. In No 21, we may see in the British form Dyvmval, which, in the Irish or Scoto-
Irish pronounciation, would be Donnel. In No 30, Cineod is merely the Keneth of the Irish.
(1.) Drust or Brest is probably the British name Trwst, which signifies Din. (2.) Talore, Talorg,
Talorgen, Talorgan. Talai-w in the British signified harsh-fronted ; Talerg, dark-fronted ; Talorgan,
splendid-fronted. Anail signified ojjenness. (3, 26.) Neohton was probablj' the Nwython of the
British, signifying a person full of energy ; there have been men among the British who were
called Nivython. (6.) Dadrest was perhaps the Godrwst of the British, signifying the beginning
of tumult, the ff in composition or connection was dropped. (7.) Giron was probably the Gricn of
the British, which is often used as an epithet that conveys the idea of stooping. (8.) Gartnach,
Gartnaich, Gartnait. Gwi'chnwyd meant one of an ardent temper ; Gwrchnaid signified an ardent
leap : Gwrthnaid meant an opposing leap. (9.) Galltrain in the British signified any one who
prowled about. (13.) Bridei, Brid. Bradw in the British meant treacherous ; Brad, treachery.
Mailcom or Maehjuii was a common British name, which implied the origin of good. (16.) Cineoch
or Cynog in the British meant a forward person. (17). Givrnerth in the British signified masculine
strength. (21). The Dyvmval of the British, which is pronounced by the Scottish and Irish Donnel,
meant what was of the weaned couch. (22.) Drest is perhaps the British Trwst, who is spoken of
in the old wiitings as a warrior that had the terrific name of Trust ail Taran, that is, the tumult,
the son of thunder. (23.) Brudw, which is pronounced Bridw or Bradw, means in the British
treacherous. Belt, his father, is a common name in the same tongue, signifying Bellicosiis, warlike.
(27.) Elpin is the British Elfin, which means the same as the English Elf. There were among the
British Eeguli of Stratholuyd two named Elpin. (28.) Wrguist or Urguist is perhaps the Gorchest
of the British, the g being dropped in construction signifying the great achievement. Gwyr, in com-
position Wyr, is the same in British as Fear, in the Irish, a man ; so Wirgust in the British is the
same as Fergus in the Irish. (31). Wroid is probably the British Gwriad, which is a common
name. (34.) Canaul is perhaps the C3Tiwyl of the British, a proper name of men, signifying con-
spicupus. Torliv signifies oath breaking in the British ; Tivrlla means a heap. (35.) Costantin,
Constantin. The name of Constantin appears among the British Eeguli of Strathcluyd, as we see in
Langhom's Catalogue. (37.) Wthoil is the same as the common name Ithel, signifying in the
British, knit-brow. (38). Uven seems to be the well-known name of Owain, signifj-ing apt to serve
or to minister ; and appearing under this form in the Welsh MS. Chronicle of the Saxons in the
British Museum. One of the British Eeguli of Strathcluyd was named Uen, or Hoen. (39.) Wrad is
no doubt the Givriad of the British, the G being dropt in connection ; and there was a chief who was
so called in the battle of Cattraeth. Bargoit or Bargod is also a name mentioned in the Triads. (40.)
Brid or Brad signifies in the British, treachery ; hence, Bradvg, treacherous, the appropriate appella-
tion of several ancient personages.
208 AnACCOUNT [Book II.— The Pictish Period
Those Pictish kings successively governed uncivilized clans during the rudest
ages. In the third century the Picts were sufficiently barbarous, if we may
believe the uniform representations of classic authors. As the Greeks had im-
proved themselves from the vicinity of the orientals, and the Romans had
derived refinement from an imitation of the Greeks, the Picts, we may easily
sujjpose, gained some improvement from their intercourse, whether civil or
hostile, with the Romanized Britons or the Roman armies. The introduction
of Christianity among the Picts in subsequent times, by inculcating new lessons,
impressed more gentle maxims ; and by teaching dissimilar habits, established
among a rude people more humane practices ; yet, while Europe was over-run
by barbarism, ib is not to be reasonably expected that North-Britain would
escape the contagion of illiterate ages, and much less would acquire the
accomplishments of knowledge or the softness of civilization.
The appropriate country of the Picts, like more celebrated regions, appears
to have acquii'ed different names in successive periods. The mountainous part
of it was denominated by the first colonists in their native speech, Alhan, the
superior height. This appropriate name, which was originally applied to the hilly
region that forms the west of Perth and the north-west of Argyle, was in after
times extended to the whole country. In the first century the British term
Celyddon, which literally signifies the coverts, was applied by the Roman
authors to the whole country on the north of the friths, though the same name
was confined by the Roman geographers to the interior highlands lying
northward of Albau. Both of these well-known appellations were afterwards
applied more laxly to North-Britain, The Pictish Chronicle, from the Pictish
people, calls their country by the analogous word Pictavia (q). The annals of
Ulster generally speak of this country by the name of Fortruin, with a slight
deviation from Fothir, the name of the Pictish capital {r). Saxo, the Danish
((/) Innes's Crit. Essay, App. No. iii. ; Enquiry, 1789, v. i., App. No. xi. In the tract De Situ
Albanice of Giraldus Cambrensis, ib. No. i. ; and see Langlaom's Antiquitates Alhionenses, who adopts
the same name of Pictavia.
(r) Chron., No. iii.^in Innes's Appendix. This name is merely the British Faethir [Faeth-thir]
in Irish, Fothir signifying rich land, and this is the characteristic of the plains about Fortevoit.
To the previous name of Fothir the Scoto-Irish put the adjunct tabhait, hence the names of
Fothir, Fothir-tabhait, which is now abbreviated Fortevoit. Chron. No. iii. in Innes's App. ;
Diplom. Scotiae. This ancient capital of the Pictish kings was occasionally the residence of the
Scottish sovereigns as late as the reign of Malcolm IV., who dated one of his charters from Fether-
, i tevoit. Anders. Dipl., pi. xxv. Forteviot is situated in Strathearn, about half a mile south from
yf the river Earn, on the east side of May-water. It is apparent that Fortruin, in the annals of
Ulster, has no connection with Forthrif on the Forth, as Fortruin applies merely to the seat of the
Ch.L— The Picts.'] OpNORTH-BRITAIN. 200
historian speaks of the conquests of Regnai- in Scotia, Petia, and the Hebudes
(*■). The context plainly points to Petia as the name of Pictland. Now, the
Pelia of Saxo approaches the nearest to the British term Peith or Peithw,
which the British people applied to the open country lying along the east coast
on the northward of the Forth,
The history of the Picts is only accompanied by such glimpses of the moon
as show it to be little more than a tissue of domestic strife and foreign war ; of
violent successions in the series of their kings, and some changes of religion.
Drast, the son of Erp, who is chronicled as the fortunate leader of a hundred
battles, had the honour to contribute his efforts to produce the abdication of the
Ptoman government, if we may credit Gildas's declamations and the Irish
annalists (t). More than a century elapsed, and a dozen successions ensued,
without any interesting event to recount. The Saxons, who invaded the
Ottadinian district on the Tweed, are said to have made a treaty with the
Picts. The Scoto-Irish colonists settled on their western territories in 503 a.d.
Ida, who founded the Northumbrian monarchy in 547 A.D., appears to have
been diverted by other objects from making the Picts feel the vigour of his
genius. In a.d. 556, succeeded to the unsteady government of the Picts
Bridei, whose fame reached even to the east (u). In the subsequent year he
defeated the Scoto-Irish, and slew Gauran their king, if we may credit the
Ulster annals. But the great glory of the reign of Bridei was his conversion to
Christianity by the worthy Columba in 565 (x). From this epoch the Picts
may be considered as Christians, a circumstance which seems not to have much
changed their principles or much altered their customs.
A petty warfare of many ages succeeded the demise of Bridei in a.d. 586, owing
to the defect of the government and the accustomed habits of a I'ude people.
Bridei was contemporary with the Northumbrian Oswy, who made him feel the
weight of his character, if not acknowledge the superiority of his power (y).
Pietish government in Stratheam. Yet has Mr. D. Macplierson fallen witli others into this error, for
he says that Fortren in the Ulster Annals seems an error for Fortrev. Illustrations of Scot. Hist, in
vo. Fortren.
{s) Lib. is. (t) See, however, Bede, 1. i., cap. sii.
(«) The accession of Bridei is recorded by the contemporary Count Marcellin in his Chronicon, Ed.
Sirmondus, p. 78 ; Ind. V. P. C. Basil V. C. svi. which date corresponds with a.d. .350. See the
foregoing Chronological enumeration of the Pictish Mngs.
(.r) Bede. 1. iii., cap. -t.
{if) See the doubtful intimations of Bede upon this point, 1. ii., cap. v.
Vol. I. E e
210 AnACCOUNT [Book II.— The Pktlsh Period.
There was a domestic conflict at Lindores in 621, under Cineoch, the son
of Luthrin (:;). In G63 ensued the unimportant battle of Ludho-feirn among
the Picts (a). Drest, who reigned from 667 a.d. to 674, was expelled from
his kingdom {h). Far different was the battle of Dun-Nechtan in 685, when
the Pictish Bridei, the son of Bili, defeated and slew the Northumbrian
Egfrid (c). The Saxon king appears to have attacked the Picts without pro-
vocation and against advice. In pursuit of this object, whether of possession
or of plunder, he proceeded from Lothian, the Bernicia of that age, across the
Fortli into Strathearn. He thus plunged into the defiles of Pictavia. The torch
lighted his march to the Tay. He burnt on his flaming route Tula-Aman
and Dun-Ola, before the Picts could meet him in conflict. His imprudence
pushed him on to his fate ; and he crossed the Tay into Angus while the Picts
were collecting around h.im. Yet he pressed forward to Dun-Nechtan, the
hill-fort of Nechtan, the Dunnichen of the present times {d) ; and near the
neighbouring lake, which was long known by the analogous name of Nechtan 's
mere. Egfrid and his army fell before the valorous Bridei and his ex-
asperated Picts (e). This event, as it enfeebled the Northumbrian power, proved
as fatal to the Saxon policy as it was felicitous to the Pictish indejaendence [f).
Yet the Northumbiians under Berht, their powerful leader, tried their strength
against the Picts in 699, when they were defeated by Bridei, the son of Dereli,
who had just assumed the Pictish sceptre {g). The Saxons, under Beorthfryth,
avenged those repulses by defeating the Picts in Mananfield, and killing Bredei
their king in 710 a.d. {h).
(z) An. Ulster. (a) Id.
(/)) The Ulster annals place this event in 671 ; but these annals are sometimes one or two or three
years behind the true dates.
(c) Bede's Hist., 1. iv. xxvi., p. 248, 12 ; Saxon Chron. Gibson, p. 45.
(f?) In a charter of William the Lion to the monks of Arbroath, this jilace is actually called Dun-
Nechtan. At this seat there was anciently a Pictish hill-fort, which was named from one of the
Pictish kings, Din-Nectan, signifying in the Pictish speech the fortress of Nectan, the Duin-Nectan of
the Irish annalists. The remains of this ancient fort may still be seen on the southern side of the hill
of Dunnichen. Stat. Account, v. i., p. 419.
(e) For the site of this important field, see book ii., ch. iii.
(/) Bede, 1. vr., cap. 26 ; Sax. Chron., 45. Trumwine, the bishop of the Picts, retired on that
occasion from Abercorn, " in vicinia freti quod Augloi-um terras Piotorumque distei-minat," snys Bede.
This shows distinctly the contiguous limits of the two people in that early age.
(fj) Bede, 1. v., cap. 24 ; Sax. Chron., 49.
(A) Ulster Annals ; the Saxon Chron. under the year 710 states this battle to have been fought
between Hoefe and Caere on the Northumbrian Tyne. Sax. Chron., 50 ; and Gibson's Map, for the site
of this eventful conflict.
Ch. I.— The Picfs.^ Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 211
Between those conterminous people ensued more pacific scenes. The learned
Ceolfrid instructed Nechtan, the Pictlsh sovereign, concerning the epoch of
Easter and the nature of the tonsure in 715 (/). Ciniod gave an asylum
-within his kingdom, in 774, to Alcred the Northumbrian king, when he was
expelled by the anarchy which at length became predominant in Northum-
berland (k).
Meantime, after various contests for power, which Avere attended with great
violences, a civil war began among the Picts about the year 724 (/). In 727
A.D. was fought the battle of Moncrib, in Strathearn, which ended as favour-
ably for Ungus as it proved fatal to the friends of Elpin. A more bloody
battle was soon after fought at Duncrei, when Elpin was again obliged to flee
from the fury of Ungus, In 728 followed the battle of Moncur, in the Carse
of Gowrle, between Nechtan and Ungus, wherein Nechtan was defeated and
many of his friends were slain. In the same bloody year was fought between
Drust and Ungus the battle of Drumderg, an extensive ridge on the western
side of the river Isla, where Drust, the associate with Elpin in the Pictish go-
vernment, was slain. This domestic warfare still continued with greater blood-
shed. In 730, Brudes, the son of Ungus, defeated Talorgan, the son of v;/
Congus (on). In 730, the fugitive Elpin sunk before the superiority of Ungus, ';"
and met his fate at Pit-Elpie, within the parish of LifP, which is at no great
distance from the scene of Elpin's flight in 727. The Scottish fablers have
confounded the death of the Pictish Elpin at Pit-Elpie in 730 with the fall
(i) Bede, 1. v., cap. sxi. ; yet we must infer from tlie context tlaat the Pictish Nechtan did not
understand the language of the Saxon Ceolfrid.
(i) R. Hoveden ; S. of Durham ; Ciuiod is mentioned in the Welsh MS. Chron. of the Saxons in
the Brit. Museum, by the name of Cemoyd, the king of the Picts, as having died in a.d. 774. Bu
varw Cemoyd brenin y Phictiaid.
(I) From the Annals of Ulster, we learn that in 712 Ciniod, the son of Derili, and brother of
Nechtan, the reigning king, and also the son of Mathgenan, were assassinated. In the same year
Talorg, the son of Drostan, was imprisoned by his brother Nechtan. In 718, Drostan, the father, was
assassinated. In 724 the son of Drust was imprisoned. In 725, Nechtan, who reigned from 710 to
725, was dethroned by Drust. From this time Drust and Elpin reigned conjointly till they both fell
before the superior power of Ungus in 728 and 730 a.d.
(hi) Fi-om the Annals of Ulster it appears that in 733, Talorgan, the son of Congus, was overcome
in a family feud by his brother, and being delivered into the hands of the Picts, was by them drowned.
About the same time Talorgan the son of Drostan was taken prisoner near the castle of Olio, and
|) afterwards fled to Ireland from the power of Ungus. The same Annals state that in 738 Talorgan,
the son of Drostan, the chief of Athol, was drowned by Ungus, a mode of punishment which seems to
have been common among the Picts.
Ee2
212 An ACCOUNT {Bookll— The Pictish Period.
of the Scottish Alpin at Laicht-Alpm in 83G a.d. (n). Ungus, who is
honoured by the Irish annahsts with the title of Great, and who appears by the
same annals not to have been very scrupulous in piu'suit of his greatness, now
reigned triumphant over all his opponents. He carried savage hostilities into
the rugged country of the Scoto-Irish in 736. It appears, however, that soon
after Muredach the Scottish king invaded the Pictish territories in his turn,
when he was defeated by Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, in a bloody conflict,
wherein many chieftains were slain (o). Ungus again worsted the Scoto-Irish
in 740 ; and he seems to have repulsed the Northumbrians during the same
year, when he was attacked by Eadbert (q). In 750 he overpowered the
Britons of the Cumbrian Kingdom, in the well-fought battle of Cath-0 ; in
which his brother Talorgan, however, was slain (Z*). After so many conflicts
the great Ungus died in 761 a.d. by a quiet expiration (r). He appeal's from
his history to have been the ablest and the most powerful of all the Pictish
kings. Among the Picts, who were seldom, at rest, another battle was fought
in 767 A.D. between their ruler Ciniod and Aodh-fi.n, the Scottish king. Ciniod
only survived his doubtful victory till 775. Canaul, the son of Tai'la, was in
791 vanquished by Constantin, who succeeded him in the unstable throne of
the Picts (s).
While the Pictish people were thus afllicted with civil war, they were exposed
to the destructive incursions of their enterprising neighbours on the north-east.
The anarchical governments of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, during the
middle ages, produced the pirate kings of the northern seas. The Vikingr, if
we except the fictitious kings of the Greeks, . are unexampled in the annals of
the world. The Goths, the Vandals, the Huns, ai-e recorded as the scourges
of the human race by land. The pirate kings were long the scourge!-; of the
(«) See cli. iii. of tliis book. (o) Annals of Ulster.
^ (p) Smith's Bede, 222 ; and Savile's Olii'onologia.
(5) Ulster Annals. The Welsh Chronicles mention this battle in 750, by the name of Maesydaoc,
Magedawc, Metgadawo. Chron. of the princes in the Welsh Archseolog., v. ii., p. 391 ; Chron. of the
Saxons and Oaradoc, lb. 472-3.
(r) Smith's Bede, p. 224, which speaks without qualification of his tyranny and his crimes. The
short chronicle ^vhich is annexed to Bede's Ecclesiastical History, states : " a. d. 761, Oengus
" Pictorum rex obiit, qui regni sui principium usque ad finem facinore cniento tyrannus perdusit
" carnifex." Id.
(«) For all those conflicts see the Ulster Annals, as they have been published by Johnston and by
the author of the Enquiry, 1789. It is to be remembered, however, that the dates in the extracts
from these annals in the British Museum, are generally one year behind the date, which is stated by
Usher from the original Annals of Ulster, and also behind the Annals of Tigernach.
7/
Ch.l.—The Picts.'] Of NOETH-BEITAIN. 213
shipmen who sailed from every nation on the European seas. Till the eighth
century, however, the Vikingr confined their odious piracies to the Baltic.
They now pursued their destructive courses on every sea and on every shore
in Europe. They first appeared distinctly on the east coast of England dur-
ing 787 A.D. (a). They were felt on the Caledonian shores some years after-
wards. They made the Hebrides deplore their barbarities throughout the ninth
century, while they burnt the religious houses which the pious hands of the
Columbans had built. In_839 the Vikingr landed among the Picts. Uen,
their king, hastened to defend his people. A bloody conflict ensued ; and the
gallant Uen fell in defending his country against those ferocious invaders. , , ,
With him also fell his only brother Bran, and many of the Pictish chiefs (6). / /
Distracted by domestic strife and enfeebled thus by wasteful invasion, the Picts
were little able to resist the arms or to defeat the policy of Kenneth, the son
of Alpin, when he acquh'ed their distracted government in 843 a.d. If it were
asked why the name of Scotland was not applied to the Caledonian regions for
several years after that memorable epoch, the answer mnst be that the Picts
remained in possession of them as the predominating people (c).
The Picts, who had the honour to be celebrated by classic authors and re-
membered for ages after their fall, have been so much misrepresented or
neglected by modern writers, that it must gratify a reasonable curiosity to
inquire a httle more minutely about their language and religion, concerning
their customs and antiquities (d).
(a) The energetic wiiter of the late History of the Saxons, vol. ii., gives the best account of the
Vikingr which I have any where met with. The historians of the three northern kingdoms, as
they want chronology, want every thing which is valuable in history. Till the ninth and tenth
centuries those historians contain nothing but gross fictions, ridiculous stories, and absurd pre-
tensions. From Andreas we learn that Vijhingur signifies Latro, from Vijf), vir militaris ; or
from Viijij navis ; and from the Lexicon, vocum antiquarum Arij Polyhistoris, that Scelcongr sig-
nifies Rex vlassis in mare, nunc admiral. And see Ihre, in vo. Iconung, rex, sio-keonung signifies Dux
piratarum.
(b) For those dates see the Ulster annals, and the Pictish chronicle.
(c) Camdeni Epistolse, p. 3G2.
((/) It is unnecessary to argue the question with Innes, whether the Picts, after their conquest,
were destroyed or preserved. He observes that Kenneth, the son of Alpin, after he had ac-
quired their government in 843 a.d., was called rex Pictorum, and not rex Pittavice. The Saxon
Chronicle, p. 83, and Ethelward, fol. 485, speak of Halfdene, the Dane, as wasting the country
lying between the Picts and Stratholydc Britons in 875 a.d. Asser, a still earher author, men-
tions the Picts on the same occasion. The continuator of Nennius and the Ulster annals speak
of the Picts. That the proper Picts still existed in the tenth century we may infer from the in-
timations of Ethelred, fol. 483, and from Ingulf us, p. 37, ed. 1684. Before the twelfth century
214 AnACCOUNT [Book IL.—The Pktish Period.
In traciuo- the origin of a language it is only necessary to ascertain the de-
scent of the people. When it is once settled that the Picts were merely the
Cambro-Britons who appeared at various periods under a new and lasting
name, the inquiry with regard to the Pictish language must soon terminate
in the conclusion that the speech of the Britons and the Picts was the same.
As the language is the true genealogy of nations, so the genuine history of
nations is the most certain means of tracing the analogy of languages (e). But
this inquiry is not to be now made. The history and the lineage of the Picts
have been very fully investigated ; and we have clearly seen that the north-
ern parts of our island were settled, as well as the southern, by the same Bri-
tish tribes who imposed their significant names on the promontories, hai'bours,
and hills, and on the rivers, rivulets, and waters, whose appi'opriate appellations
the Picts seem to liave been so completely merged with the Scots, their conquerors, as no longer
to be distinguishable as a people. Their ancient name was now transferred to the Galloway Scots.
Eadulph, the Archbishop of Canterbmy, in a letter to Pope Calixtus, in 1124, applied the name
of Picts to the men of Galloway. Richard Prior of Hexham, a contemporary with David I.,
speaks of the Picts as composing a part of the Scottish army at the battle of the Standard in
1138 A. D. ; " Picti que vulgo Galiceyemes dicuntur," says he. X Script. Col. 316, n. 34.
Huntington soon after considered the Picts as a lost people. The proper Picts were the descend-
ants of the Cambro-Britons of old ; but the G alive i/enses were the descendants of the Scoto-Irish
settlers of the ninth osntury. It is indeed true that the proper Picts who had long lived beyond
the Friths were called the Cruithnich by the Scoto-Irish, and so were the Galloway-Ii-ish called
the Cruithnich before their migration. The Strathclyde-Britons, who were confounded with the
Galloway men, were of the same lineage as the proper Picts ; yet, as they remained within the
Roman limits, they were not denominated Picts. The name of the Picts has, however, been applied
popularly to various objects. The wall of Severus is known in the tradition of the country as
the P/c/s-wall. The vast fosse which runs athwart the country from Galashiels to Liddesdale, is
called traditionally the Pi'cis- work-ditch, as well as the Catrail. An ancient way in the Mearns,
is called by the country people the Picts-roa.d. Several round forts in Liddesdale are still called
the Picts-woika. Stat. Acco. v. xvi., p. 84. A hill, where there is the remain of a British fort, in
Garwald parish, is called the P2cis-hill. Armstrong's Map of the Lothians. In Buchan there
are a number of hiding holes, which ai-e called the Picts-honses. Several circular buildings of stone
in Caithness and in Oi-kney, are called the Ptc-fe-houses ; and the frith, which separates Caithness and
Orkney, was of old called " fretum Pictioum," though now the Pentland Firth. Gordon's Scotia
Antiqua, in Blaeu's Atlas. In a charter of Alexander II. to the monks of Kinloss of the lands of
Burgle, the "riiiice Pictorimi," or water-course of the Picts, is called for as a boundary.
(e) " I am not very willing," saith one of the wisest of men, " that any language should be totally
" extinguished. The similitude and derivation of languages afford the most indubitable proof of the
" traduction of nations and the genealogy of mankind. They add often physical certainty to historical
" evidence, and often suppl}- the only evidence of ancient migrations, and of the revolutions of ages
" which left no written monuments behind them." Johnson's letter to Drummond, in Boswell's life
of Johnson, v. i., 488. The President des Brosses, and indeed our own Camden, concur with Johnson
in his judicious observations.
oil. l.—T/,e Pivts.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 215
are all significant in the British language, as we may learn from the Welsh
dictionaries. We have perceived that the Picts of the third century were
merely the descendants of the Britons during the first, though the Picts ap-
peared to Roman eyes under new aspects, and to the Roman understanding
in more formidable shapes {/). We have already seen that the names of the
Pictish kings are significant neither in the Teutonic nor Irish, but only in the
British speech ; and we shall find that Aber-ncthy, the metropolis of the
Pictish kingdom, also derived from the Bi'itish language its appropriate appel-
lation, which it retained till the recent period of the Pictish government [g).
The most ancient repertory of the Pictish language is the topography of
North-Britain {h). In it may even now be traced the copious and discrimin-
ating speech of that ancient people. Several of the towns in North-Britain
have derived their desci'iptive names from the Pictish speech, such as Eccles,
Lanark and Strivelin, Peebles and Perth, Forfar and Aberdeen. Some of
the parishes also enjoy the honour of Pictish names, such as Llan-bride and
(/) See before, Book i., cli. vi.
(g) See Book i., cli. i., and the topograpliical dictionary in vo. Aher. The late Dr. John
M'Pherson, who was praised by James M'Pherson " as a master of the Celtic in all its branches,"
wiote an express dissertation, the fifth, on " the Pictish language." In this he attempts, with
a feeble voice indeed, to confute Innes as well as Camden, who were of opinion "that the Picts
" spoke the British language." In this hopeless task of writing down the truth, he objects to the
British word Aber, which they had considered as Pictish. He cannot admit this, because the word
(Aber) is found in some parts of North-Britain to which the Pictish empire never extended, as
in Loch-ftie;-. He did not know that every part of North-Britain was once inhabited by British
tribes, who left the word Aber behind them during a thousand years before the Scots came into
that country from Ireland. He intimates, indeed, that the Ii-ish may have had the word Aber
from some of their progenitors ; yet he durst not claim it as an Erse word : and he did not
know the fact, about which he had never inquired, that the word Aber is neither in the Irish dic-
tionaries, nor to be found in the Maps of Ireland. By the Pictish tongue he meant, as he says,
the language of the old Caledonians, who, according to tliis master of every dialect if the Celtic,
spoke Erw .' It did not escape the acute penetration of Whitaker that neither Dr. John nor Sir.
James M'Pherson understood one word of the British. "It is impossible to prove," says Dr.
John M'Pherson, " from any faithful record, that Kenneth M'xilpin introduced a new language
" among his new subjects after he had united the Pictish kingdom with that of the Scots."
Yes, the cliartularies prove that the Scoto-L-ish people did change the British speech for their
own. The chartularies show the Scoto-Irish in the very act of converting the British A ber into
their own /(ictr. It has been demonstrated in Book i., ch. ii., that the names of places in North-
Britain during the second century were British. The Tupofjraphiced Dictionary wiU equally evince
that the names of places in the same country became Scoto-Irish after the conquest of the Plots by
Kenneth M'Alpin.
(A) See before, Book i., ch. i. and ii., where the most ancient names of places in the first and second
centuries are shewn to be British, that is, Pictish.
216 An ACCOUNT [Bodkll.—T/ie Pktkh Feriod.
Llaii-moi'o'an, from the British Llan, a church ; Lift', from the British Lift', a
flood ; Pennycuick, Ochiltre, Ayr, and others. Many other names of places
may be traced up to the same ancient source, such as Arran, a height; Core,
a creek; HeiKjh, a height; Pen, a head; Ram, a promontory; Trwijn or Troon,
a point of land ; Pill, a strength ; Tre, a vill ; Cader, a fortress, as Cater-thun;
j^ Carse, and Kerse, a swampy ground ; Granbain, the Grampian range ; Noeth,
^' aliiii ; and almost all the'nvers and waters (i).
Next to the notices of topography with regard to the Pictish language, we
come to the authority of Bede. Amidst his penury of topographical intimations
the learned monk does recollect one Pictish word [h). In the like manner
Nennius informs us that the Scoto-Irish called the same head of the wall Cen-
ail, which is known at this day by the familiar name of Ken-neil ; now, the
■pen of the British being equivalent to the cen of the Irish, this coincidence of
the kindred languages confirms the opinion of Bede, and adds certainty to
truth.
The Pictish language may also be found in the vernacvilar language of North-
Britain even at this day (Z). The inhabitants of Edinburgh use the language
(«■) See the comparative topography in Book i., cli. i.
(i) Bede, speaking of the wall of Antonine, the obvious vestiges of which remained in his time,
remarks; "Incipit autem duorum ferme milium spatio a monasterio Aherc\xrmg s.A occidentem, in
" loco qui sermone Pictorum PeanfaJiel ; lingua autem anglorum Penneltun appellatur." Bede,
edition Smith, p. 50. We thus perceive that in the age of Bede and dm'ing the Pictish period the
end of the ivall was named by the Picts Pen-fad or Pen-valiel, the (f) and (v) being convertible — a fact
this which proves additionally that the Picts and Britons spoke the same language, for Pen-wal and
Pen-ij-wdl mean the same thing under different constructions, as Pen-u-al is Wall-end, and Pcn-y-ival
is the end of the wall. Now, one dialect might more commonly use the one form than the other, and
Bede only showed by writing Pen-fael instead of Pen-y-tccd, which is still prevalent among the northern
Britons, the habit of giving doable sounds to the single vowels which are used in the Welsh. The
Penel-tun of the Saxons, as recorded by Bede, is merely the Penical of the Britons contracted by
the Saxon pronunciation into Penel with the affix tun, signifjring the toiun or hamlet at Penwal.
The intimations of Bede attest what all historians seem to acknowledge, that the languages of the
Picts and the Saxons were quite different, Enquu-y, 1789, v. i., p. 365, and that the Pictish PenwcJiel
preceded the Saxon Penel-tun. We are told, however, by the same enquirer, v. i. p. 46, that
Pcena in the Suio-Gothic of Ihre signifies extendere, to extend ; but if we change the terms of a
proposition, and alter the orthography of words, it were easy, no doubt, to convert the Pen of the
British and the Cen of the Scoto-Irish into the Pivna of the Suio-Gotliic. In time etymology, when
applied to the names of places, the construction, the spelling, the sense, and the sound ought all to
concur together.
(I) There is a vast body of the common speech both of England and of Scotland borrowed from the
noble language of the ancient Britons. See the vocabulary, British, Scoto-Irish, and Scottish, in the
introduction to the topographical dictionary. Take the following specimens :
Aries, earnest-money, from the British Aries.
C\x.l.—ThePicts.] Of NOETH-BRITAIN. 217
of the Picts, as often as they speak of some of the North-British towns or of
many local objects around them.
The municipal law of North-Britain has even borrowed several of its sio'nifi-
cant terms from the Pictish speech. The subjoined specimens may suffice for
the present :
Clep and call of the Scottish law, from the British Clep and Clepian. Gaines
of the Scottish law, from the British, Galan, Galaues. Kelchin of the
Bugaho, from the British Bug, a hobgoblin ; and Bo, a bugbear, an interjection of terror. Owen's
Diet, and Lliuyd's Arch., 214.
Bung, a bnng-hole. Lhuyd, 214 ; Owen.
Batie, a boar, from Baedd, British ; Bahet, Cornish. Davies and Pryce.
Brisket, the breast of a slain beast, from the British Bi'i/sced. Richards.
To deck, from the British Cleca. Owen.
Cowl, from the British Cuvyl. Owen.
Cach, dung, from the British Cach. Owen and Lhuyd, p. 198.
Cummer, a godmother, also Ciimmerwife, from the British Commaer. Lhuyd, p. 183 ; and Bor-
lase, p. 422.
Cmvk or Chalk, from the British Calch. Owen.
Claver, and clish-ma-claver, from the British Clehar.
Clap, from the British Clep.
Darn, to mend or piece. Owen.
Duh, from the British Dwh. Owen.
Dad, a father, from the British Twl.
Earnest, the pledge-money of an agreement, from the British Em and Ernes.
Gridle or Girdle, from the British Griedell, or L-ish Greidal.
Glos, a slumber, British Gloes, Corn. Glos. Owen and Pryce.
Gits, a sow ; Corn. Giiis ; Arm. Giies. Piyce and Lhuyd, p. 183, 204.
Hether, from the British Eiddiar (Eithiar). Owen. The aspirate H being prefixed by the Saxons,
changed the word to Hether.
Hem, a border seam, from the British Hem. Owen.
Hut, Hoot, an interj. from Hwt, British. Owen.
Knoc, a rap, from the British Cnoc.
Knoll, pronounced Know, from the British Cnol. Owen.
Knell, the stroke of a bell, from the British Cmd. Owen.
Kebar, a rafter, from the British Ceher. Lhuyd, p. 214 ; Owen and Pryce's Arch, in vo. Keber.
To Kemp, from the British Camp, Campiau. Owen.
Mammy, from the British Mam, a mother. Davies and Eichard.
Marl, from the British Marl. Id.
Fez, pease, from the British Pys ; Cornish Fez. Eichard and Pryce.
Fork, a field or enclosure, from the British Fare ; Cornish, Park.
Paw, the foot, from the British, Cornish, and Armorlc Paiv and Pawen. Pryce and Lhuyd,
p. 208.
Rnth, plenty, from Rhwth, British ; Eiith, Cornish. Davies and Pryce.
iSaim, lard, from the British Saim. Elchards.
Withy, a twig, from the British Wydd (Wyth) ; Comish Withen. Eichard and Pryce.
Vol. I. F f
2U\ A N A C C 0 U N T [Book II.— T^e Pictish rcriod.
Scottish law, from the British Cylch. Merched or Mercheta Miilierum, _
of the Scottish law, from the British Me)'ched. Ocker of the Scottish law,
from the British Ocyr {m).
The Welsh archaeology has at length furnished the curious inquirers after
a lano-uao-e, which has been supposed by the English chroniclers of the middle
ao-es to be lost, with some admirable poems in the Pictish language. The
Caledonian Myrddin or Merlinus Caledonius, who was born on the north of
the Clyde, and flourished about 560 A.D.,has left an elegant specimen of Pictish
poetry in his Avcdlenau, wherein he speaks of Caledonia as liis native soil ()i).
The Gododin of Aneurin, who wrote his elegant poem about 540 A.D., may
also be justly deemed a specimen of Pictish poetry, as it was composed in the
kindred language of the Romanized Britons of the Ottadinian country (o). In
fact, the Picts being merely the descendants of the British settlers of North-
Britain, and the British names of waters, both in Noi-th and South-Britain,
being significant in the Welsh dictionaries, the Pictish language must be sought
for in the Cambro-British word-books as its genuine depositories.
The language of the Britons and Picts has been considered by judicious
writers as masculine, copious, and poetical. Indeed, from not seeing it in its
primitive orthography, it seems to be harsh in its sounds to the ears of stran-
gers ; yet when it is put into verse and is read with its genuine pronunciation,
it is like the Greek and the Hebrew, melodious and strong (p).
(;») Owen's and Davies's Diet. ; and Skene, De verborum significationc.
(h) Welsh Arch., v. i., p. 150 ; Lliiiyd's Arch., p. 2G3 :
Ni neuav ; ni chyscaf ; ergrynaf fy nragon,
Fy arglwydd Gwenddolau, am browy f rodorion !
Gwedi porthi heint, a hoed, amgylch Cebjddon,
Bwyf was gwynfydig gan Wledig Gorchorddion !
I sigh not ; I do not sleep ; I am agitated for my chief.
My Lord Gwenddolau, and my genial countrymen !
After bearing of affliction, and mourning about Caledonia,
I pray to be a blessed servant with the Supreme of supernal circles !
(o) See the Welsh Arch., v. i., p. 1.
{p) Ancient Univer. Hist., v. vi., p. 31. The topogi-aphy of North-Britain alone exhibits abun-
dant proofs of those several characteristics of the British and Pictish languages, while it shews
the barrenness of the Gothic speech, and the want of taste for descriptive appellations of the Saxon
people. The Celtic names of promontories, mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, and other natural
objects display a vast variety of descriptive and metaphorical terms, which must give great
delight to all those who are capable of understanding them. The strength of the Gaelic speech
arises from the brevity and force with which it conveys to the mind the meaning of the speakera
Ch. 1.— The PicU.] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. _>19
As the Celts were the original settlers of western Europe, they transmitted
to their posterity an energetic passion for imposing their own significant names
on all the prominent objects of nature. In exercising this peculiar prerogative
of fii'st discoverers, they displayed those appropriate qualities of their language
which have been remarked, its strength and discrimination, its copiousness
of epithet, and its frequency of metaphor (g).
and writers. Its copiousness is seen in the great variety of its appropriate appellations. The Gaelic
language has no fewer than fifty thousand terms for hills of various kinds, from the Beiii for the
highest mountain, down to the Tom for the smallest hillock, while the Gothic has scarcely half a dozen
for the same objects. See Shaw's Gaelic Dictionary, Hick's Thesaui'us, and other Gothic word-books
for the facts.
((j) See Lhuyd's Adversaria which are annexed to Baxter's Glossary; and the following topographi-
cal dictionary, which displays a thousand examples of the strength and discrimination of the British
and Pictish languages. It were endless to enumerate the great variety of descriptive appellations
which the Celtic people have given to the mountains, rivers, and other natural objects in North-Britain.
They may be seen as well in the Comparative Topography, book i., ch. i., as in the Topographical
Dictionary. The Gaelic settlers in North-Britain seem to have had a singular disposition to suppose
the heights of their mountainous countiy to resemble different parts of the human body in vaiious
attitudes, and to apply metaphorical names to those heights in allusion to those fancied resemblances.
The British Trm/ti and the Scoto-Irish Sron, which signify the nose, are often applied to promontories
, and to projections of hiUs ; the British Pen and the Scoto-Irish Cen, the head ; the British Bron, the
/'/ breast; the Gaejic /)/•(«'»*, the back; Ton, the backside; Lurg, the leg or shank; Andan, the
forehead ; the British and Scoto-Irish Ton, a bell// ; and many other similar expressions, were all
metaphorically applied by the Gaelic settlers as the names of hills. Many of the appellations of
rivers, lakes, and waters in North-Britain also evince the liveliness, taste, and discrimination of the
Gaelic colonists of Great-Britain in imposing their lasting names on the various waters of that country,
such as Avon, Uisge, Ease, Dur, Tain, Guy, Wy or Uy, Aw, Awdur, Ey, Dobhar, Sruth, Ad, An,
Ean, Oiche, Bir; and for smaller streams the Celtic appellations are Carrng, Nant, Gover, Aid,
Sruthan, Loin, Gil, and others. We may perceive in the map of Wales the same descriptive and
metaphorical names of hills, rivers, and other such objects. See the Adversaria of Lhuyd before
quoted. On the contrary, the only Saxon appellative for a river which appears in the topography
of North-Britain is the Fleet or Fleet, and which occurs but twice in the Fleet in Galloway
and the Fleet in Sutherlandshu-e. The only Sooto-Saxon name for a rivulet is Byrn or Burn,
which has passed into common speech. Here, then, are additional proofs of the copiousness of the
Celtic and of the barrenness of the Gothic. Take an example of the discriminating faculty of
the Celtic language. Many streams were called Dvglas, from the dark blue appearance of the
water. There is in the vicinity of some of these the epithet Finglas, appropriately applied
to some streams having a liglit blue colour. See the Map of Dunbartonshire. In the topography
of North-Britain there are a thousand names which evince the nice discriminations of the Celtic
colonists. The Eden and Ithan denote in the British a gliding stream; the A liven and Alan
in the British and Scoto-Irish signify a bright or clear stream ; Uisge-du signifies a black or dark-
coloured stream ; High or Ila denotes a floody stream ; the Carrons derived their names from their
distinguishing quality of Curvatures, and the Levens from their appropriate smoothness of surface
or flow.
Ff 2
//
220 A N A C C 0 U N T. [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
As the Celtic tongue abounded with indigenous elements, the Celts borrowed
little from foreign languages, whatever they may have lent from their own
abundance to succeeding people. The Celtic, indeed, did not stand in need of
foreign aid, as the ingenuity of the Celtic people, from the copious roots of
their own tongue, formed and multiplied terms as occasion demanded and
invention dictated. The Celts enjoyed from their earliest progenitors an in-
vincible attachment to their own language, which naturally produced a strong
antipathy to innovations in then- ancient tongue, or adoptions from the speech
of those whom their hatred viewed as invaders or oppressors. Though the
Romans were for centuries mixed with the Britons of the south and the
Caledonians of the north, and taught them some of their arts, yet the British
and Pictish people did not adopt any of the Roman language, except the
names of art or of persons. Such words in the British and Pictish language,
as seem to the eye of cursory observation to exhibit some analogy in their form
and meaning, owe such appearances to their formation from roots which sprung
originally from a common source. It cannot then be said with truth or
propriety that the Celts borrowed from the Latins, or the Latins from the
Celts. Not a Latin expression is to be found in the ingenious poetry of the
ancient Britons during the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, while the
vulgar languages of Europe had not yet been formed (?'). The speech of the
Romanized Britons remained after the retreat of the Romans the same as the
language of the extraprovincial Britons of Caledonia. The tongue of the Cale-
donian Myrddin is exactly the same with the speech of the southern poets
who wrote in the same age among the Romanized Britons. The Britons
even applied terms from their own copious language to the Roman walls, to
the Roman roads, camps, stations, and other Roman works in this country,
instead of adopting Roman terms for Roman labours. Neither the lapse of
time nor the change of circumstances have at all diminished the strong attach-
ment of the Celtic people to their own language, or their aversion from the
uatrusion of hostile tongues. These passions form a striking feature in the
character of their undoubted descendants in the present age. It was one of
the fundamental maxims of the Celtic Bards to preserve their own language.
Actuated by this principle, the ancient Britons in Wales and the Scoto-Irish
in North-Britain tenaciously maintained their own speech, and obstinately resist
the adoption of the English language, whatever may be its improvements or
its use (s).
(r) See the Welsli Ai-chseology, v. i., throughout.
(s) Major takes notice of this aversion of the Scoto-Irish in his time. Hist., 4tQ edit., p. 34.
Ch. I.— The PkU.-] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 221
In the subsequent progress of the Gothic tribes over Europe, wherever they
occupied countries which had been previously occupied by the Celts, the Gothic
intruders not only adopted the names of the rivers, mountains, and other places
that the more lively genius of the Celts had imposed from a more energetic
and descriptive speech, but the Gothic colonists borrowed many terms from
the more opulent language of their Celtic predecessors. The Goths who m
late times intruded upon the Celtic people of Germany borrowed much of
their language, and adopted many of the Celtic names of places in that ample
region ; hence we find in the excellent glossaries of the German lano-uaoe
by Wachter, and by Schilter, a numerous body of Celtic words which they
faii-ly state as derivations from a Celtic origin {t). The candid statements of
both might be confirmed from the German topography, if the names of rivers
and of places were traced up to their Celtic sources. The Saxons who settled
in Britain were prompted by their poverty of speech to follow the example
of their Gothic fathers. They adopted the Celtic names of rivers, many of the
names of hills, as well as other places, and they appropriated a number of
terms from the more copious and expressive speech of the Britons, both of
The numerous roots and the great variety of the Celtic tongue may be seen in Bullet's Mem. Sur la
Langue Celtique, torn. ii. iii., in Geb. Monde Pzim., torn, v., and in Owen's Welsli Dictionary. The
British dialect of the Celtic contains a copious, energetic and expressive language, which was
early fonned from its native riches, without the help of foreign adoptions. See also the Gaelic
vocabularies of M'Donald and M-'Farlan, and Shaw's Dictionary, for the copiousness of the Scoto-
Irish dialect of the Celtic. On the other hand the comparative barrenness of the Gothic language
may be seen clearly in the Monosijllaha Islandica, in Andreas's Islandic Dictionary, in the Vocahu-
lariuiH Dacoruiii, 1.510, and in Hick's Thesaurus. The barrenness of the Anglo-Saxon language
may be seen in the fewness of its synonyma ; it has only four or five appellatives for a hill,, as
Berg, Hleaw, or Law, Dun, and Tor, and of these four the two last are borrowed from the Celtic,
for the Dun and Tor only appear in the Anglo-Saxon and in the Gemian, but not in the other
dialects of the Gothic ; and indeed Wachter, with his usual candoui', states the Dun and Thor to
be Celtic words. In the whole of the Islandic, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish dialects of the
Gothic there are only about nine or ten appellations for a hill, as Berg, Fell, Backe, Klett,
Holl, Hoi, Lid, Lie, Bla, while one dialect of the Celtic alone has more than fifty different
appellatives for the same objects. The poetical nature of the Celtic language may be inferred,
not only from its aptness for poetry, as we may see in the Welsh Archaeology, but still more from
the lively metaphorical and descriptive epithets which the Celtic people appUed to the various
objects of nature wherever they colonized.
{t) The most ancient specimens of the German and French tongues are the oaths of Louis le
Ge:-manique and his brother Charles le Chauve, which they took in 842 A.D., and which consist
of a rude mixture of Latin, Celtic, and Tudesque. Bullet's Mem., torn, i., p. 23 ; and Geb. Monde
Prim., tom. v., p. 103. At that epoch, when the Picts ceased to be an independent people, both the
Britons and Picts spoke a highly cultivated language, and possessed many specimens of the finest
poetry from a long succession of elegant poets. See the Welsh Archaeology, v. i.
222 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book II.— The Pktish Period.
the south and the north. Many of the Celtic words which had been thus
adopted from necessity or convenience have maintained their places in the
Eno-Iish lanc-uage, through successive ages, from their usefulness. These
adopted words form a considerable proportion of the English language, even at
the present day {u). The greater number of those adopted words is so little
altered in their form and meaning, as to give little exercise to the ingenuity of
the etymologist in tracing them to their true originals. But our lexicographers,
from their unskilfulness in the language of the Britons and unacquaintance
■with the history of the Goths, have stated many of the adopted words from
the original language of our island as of unknown origin, and they have traced
many words to a Saxon source without knowing that the Saxons had them-
selves borrowed their adoptions from the British Aborigines.
It was owing to that barrenness of speech and dullness of apprehension that
we see so little description or variety in the names of places in the countries
which were settled by the Gothic colonists {x). The Anglo-Saxons who in
more recent times acquired settlements in North-Britain adopted, in the same
manner, the Celtic names of waters, of heights, and of other great objects of
(m) See Whitaker's Mancliest., v. ii., p. 238-40 ; and see tlie introduction to the following topo-
graphical dictionary for "a specimen of a vocabulary, British, Scoto-Ii-ish, and Scotish." The
intelligent writer of the late Welsh Dictionary has carefully investigated the origin of the several
■words which begin the letter B in the English language, and according to his result there may be
referred to the Saxon, ....... 1101
Of these, 165 words were obviously borrowed by the Saxons from the British, 165
hence 936
Words certainly derived from the British, including the above 165, ... 905
Uncertain Words, ......... 126
Words from the French, ........ 541
from the Latin, -....-.-. 461
from the Greek, - - - - - - - -'- 164
from the Italian, .-..-... 60
from the Dutch, -.-..-.. 135
3328
In several of the other letters of the English Dictionary this ratio of adoption will be more in
favour of the British speech, as the words in this language beginning with b are few in number,
compared with several other letters of the Cambro-British Dictionary ; and considering the connection
of the French, the Latin, the Greek, and the Italian with the Celtic, we may see the great prepon-
derance of the Celtic in the English language.
(a;) See satisfactory proofs of this in Jonas's " Specimen Islandiae Historicum, et magna ex parte
" Chorographicum." Amstel., 1643. See annexed to Gibson's Sax. Chron.. his " EegulK Generalis
■"ad investigandas origine Nominum Locomm." And see also the following topographical dictionary
in the Saxon names of places.
CL. I.— The Pkts.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 223
nature. They adopted a greater number of the Celtic names of places in North
than in South- Britain, because their settlements were made in the north at a
later period and in a different manner. The Anglo-Saxons also borrowed
many words both from the British and Scoto-Irish, which have maintained
their jalace, and give strength and copiousness and ornament to the Scoto-
Saxon of the present times. In allusion to the want of fertility in the Anglo-
Saxon speech, Verstegan has recorded a saw which Somner was studious to
copy:
"In Ford, in Ham, in Leij, and Tun,
" The most of Englisli sirnames run {y)."
To the language of a people, which is of all their antiquities the most inter-
esting, the next object of curiosity is their religion, as it shows a progress of
sentiment, and may evince an analogy of lineage. The rehgion of the Gauls
and the Britons, as we have seen, was the same. The religion of the Britons
and the Picts was the same, as we know they were the same people from the
identity of their speech, the sameness of their topography, and the identity of
their monuments. The tenets and the form of the Pictish religion were Druid
till the sixth century, as we know from a thousand relics of stone that are still
the wonder of inquisitive eyes within the district of the Pictish country (s).
The modes of sepulture among the Picts were the same as those of the Cale-
donians, as the sepulchral rites of the Caledonians were the same as those of the
Britons (ss). Their hill-forts, their weapons of war, their ornaments, and their
modes of life were the same as those of the Caledonian Britons, of whom the
Picts were the immediate descendants (a).
Whatever portion of the Pictish history we discuss, whether their origin,
annals, or their language or religion, their manners or customs, it is repeatedly
asked whether the Picts were a Celtic or a Gothic people. In order to close an
inquuy which embarrasses by the frequency of its recurrence the history of this
people, it is proposed to review briefly the Pictish question as it has been dis-
cussed by inquisitive men at different periods under various aspects.
If facts had been ascertained or regarded, it is impossible that such an inquiry
could have been ever made. That Britain was gi-adually colonized from the
nearest coast of Gaul is an historical fact which seems to be agreed upon by
{y) Versteg. Restitution of Decayed Intelligence. But .both Somner and Verstegan should have
considered the sirnames as derived secondarily from the Saxon topography, wherein the defect origin-
ally arose.
(■:) See before, those curious objects investigated in book i., ch. ii. {zi) Id.
(a) See all those objects of rational curiosity fully treated of, where we speak of the Caledonian
tribes, in book i., ch. ii.
SZi An account [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
scholars from J. Caesar, and Tacitus, Buchanan, and Camden, to Stilling-fleet and
Schoepflin (6). Tliat the several districts of the same island should be peopled
by the same tribes is a probability which may be carried up to certainty by the
satisfactory evidence of the perpetual resemblance of the same language, religion,
and manners. Yet paradox supposes it to be more likely that the northern
parts of our island were planted by migrants from beyond the ocean than from
beyond the Tweed during ages when the art of ship-building was unknown.
For maintaining that certainty, proofs which come near to demonstration have
been submitted to the reader, that every part of this island was settled originally
by the same Gaelic tribes. It is a truism, then, that our whole island was
planted by the same British people ; and against this truism and that demon-
stration Tacitus cannot be allowed to make his conjectiires, nor Bede to inform
viS, from the report of others, that the second people who settled in this island
came from Scythia. Subsequent writers, who raised a superstructure of senti-
ments on the opinion of Tacitus and the hearsay of Bede, appear thus to build
on a very slight foundation (c).
The British tribes cannot be dispossessed unless by the introduction of a new
people, whose arrival and conquests must be evidenced by stronger proofs
than paradoxical theories. The British people, in fact, remained undispossessed
of their ancient land during the fii-st and second centuries. The pristine
topography of North-Britain, as it is exhibited by Ptolemy and Richard, ascer-
tains that decisive truth. In them we see a thousand traces of a Celtic people ;
but of a Gothic people it is impossible to perceive a single trace. While
topography speaks thus to the conviction of every reader, history is silent
concerning Gothic migrations in those times into the British islands, or even
into western Europe {d).
The Caledonians were the inhabitants of North-Britain during the first cen-
tury, as we learn from Tacitus. It was the Caledonians who fought Agricola at
the foot of the Grampian. It was the Caledonians who finally repulsed the
Boman legions. If the inhabitants of North-Britain during the first century
were British tribes of a Celtic lineage, the Caledonians must necessarily have
been Celtic Britons ; and the context of Tacitus attests that the Britons of
North and South-Britain were in that age the same people.
{h) See Gibbon's Hist., 8vo. edit., v. iv., p. 291, who says the present age is satisfied with the
rational opinion that the British islands were gradually peopled from the adjacent continent of
Gaul.
(f) It was the deliberate opinion of Tacitus, or rather of Agricola, says Gibbon, that the Gauls, the
Britons, and the Caledonians were a kindred people. Ibid., p. 292.
(d) See before, book i., ch. i.
Ch. I.— The Ficts.j OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 22
20
The Caledonians were immediately succeeded by the Picts, or rather the
Picts were the old Caledonians under a new name. The classic authors who
lived during the third centuiy, when the Caledonians first ajapeared under the
ajipellation of Picts, are so positive that they were the same people, that even
polemics have acknowledged this significant truth. The stoutest supporters
of the Gothic system concerning the Pictish lineage, are forced to confess that
the Caledonians and Picts were the same people (e). The acknowledgement
which has just been made of the sameness of the Picts and Caledonians is
fatal to the Gothic system; for, as it has been settled by a thousand facts as a
moral certainty, that the North-British tribes were a Celtic people during the
second and first centuries, the Caledonians of those times must necessarily
have been British Celts. A system which pretends to outface a thousand facts,
involves in it a mrllion of absurdities; the fundamental truth tliat the Picts and
Caledonians, the Britons and Gauls, were the same Celtic people, is strongly
supported by moral certainties ; while the Gothic system is made to stand on
unauthorized assertion and unavailable inference.
The Scottish chroniclers, Fordun and Wyntoun, Boece and Major, copying
the obscure intimation of Bede, trace the Picts, by successive migrations, " from
" Scithy to Ireland, and from Ireland to Brytayn." We may easily suppose
that in their conceits the Picts were a Scythic people. Against such history
and such an inference Buchanan at length made a stand. Tliis acute writer
(e) " That the Caledonians and Picts were one and the same people is now nniversally allowed.
" Buchanan, Camden, Lloyd, Innes, Whitaker, the M'Phersons, O'Conner, D'Anville, Stilling-
" fleet, though differing widely on other points, all join here." Enquiry, 1789. The first chapter
of part iii. of this book has this significant title, " The Caledonians and Plots the same."
The motive for this alacrity in bringing so many scholars to acknowledge the sameness of the
Picts and Caledonians appears to be this : During the three centuries which elapsed after the
invasion of North-Britain by Agricola, the Greek and Roman authors would have so firmly opposed
the notion of a Gothic conquest over Caledonia, that it became necessary to go back into darker
ages as much more commodious for fabulous assumption. The fact required that the original
colonization of North-Britain by the Cambro-Britons should be acknowledged. The classic
authorities demanded that the sameness of the Picts and Caledonians should also be acknowledged ;
and nothing remained in this stronfj dilemma of a desperate case but to assert, without proof and
against probability, that the Caledonians were a Gothic colony who conquered North-Britain in some
unknown age, two or three centuries, perhaps, before our common era. He who goes back to those
distant times for proofs of a Gothic conquest of North-Britain must show what the most erudite
scholars have not yet shown, when the Gothic people came into western Europe, except the con-
quering Goths be brought indeed from the Danube, through the Hellespont, into the ocean. But of
sucli expeditions in such an age history is silent, and of such conquests there does not remain in
North Britain the smallest trace, while there exist a thousand proofs that such Gothic conquests were
never made.
Vol. I. G g
22G A N AC C 0 U N T [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
now insisted that the Picts of the third century were the descendants of the
Caledonians in the first who spoke the Celtic tongue. After proving from
an accurate comparison of the names of places in Gaul and in Britain that
the Gauls and Britons were the same people, he erred with the vulgar in
supposing that either the Picts or Caledonians were migrants from abroad,
rather than descendants of the fix'st settlers from South-Britain. By thus ad-
mitting what was untrue in argument and false in fact, he was obliged to derive
the Picts and Caledonians from the Gothini, a Gaulic people in Germany {f),
Buchanan was obviously misled by his enmity to Humphrey Lluyd the Welsh
antiquary, to derive the Caledonians from any people rather than the Cambro-
Britons.
In this track of inquiry Buchanan was soon followed by Camden, the Sti-abo
of England, who originally oflered his Britannia to the antiquarian world in
1586 [g). After stating the opinions of others, this modest and judicious
writer gave his own judgment " that the Picts were very Britons, indeed, by
" the demeanor, name, and speech of the Picts." He argues the question,
like Buchanan, from classic authors ; like him, he shows the conformity of the
names of places ; and he concludes a learned disquisition, without di'eading the
charge of absurdity, " that the Pictish and the British language differed not ;
" and of consequence the nations were not divers " (A). With tliis judgment
of Camden, concurred Selden, who advised others to follow his example {i).
Speed, when he came to exhibit a prospect of Scotland, gave it as his opinion
" that the Picts anciently inhabiting a part of that kingdom, were the inhorn
" Britons, whose names began first to be distmguished under Dioclesian" {k).
(/) See BucLanan's Hist., lib. xi., § 18 to 27. This able man assures us that before the
arrival of the Saxons none of the British nations, when conversing with each other, used an inter-
preter ; that there are no traces of a foreign tongue in the peculiar country of the Picts ; that tlie
names of districts and of towns which they once inhabited are still significant in the ancient
language. It is curious to remark that these notions of Buchanan are confii-med by the fact. In
this work, book i., ch. i., may be seen, from an elaborate comparison of the names of places, that
Noi-th-Britain must have been settled by the same Gaulic people who colonized South-Britain. In
book i., ch. ii., it is evinced by similar comparisons that the names of tribes and of places were
still Celtic in the second and third centuries, without a single trace of any Q-othic tongue, and
hence the instructive inference that a Gothic people had not yet arrived within the Caledonian
regions.
(fj) The first edition of the Bbitannta is an 8vo volume of 560 pages. Of these he dedicated
four pages to the Picti, nine to the Scoti, and eight to Scotia.
(h) lb., § 8, Picti. (i) In his notes on the Polyolhion of Drayton.
(A-) Prospects, B. iii., ch. i. The geographer du Chesne concurs with Camden, Selden, and
Speed, adding new authorities and additional facts. Histoire d'Angleterre, d'Escosse, et d'Irlande,
Liv. iii.
Chap. I.— The Picts.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. i'27
When Usher was collecting materials, however, for his ecclesiastical anti-
quities, he thought fit to follow the intimations of Bede rather than the judg-
ment of Camden, by supposing that the Picts were Cimbric-Germans, and not
inborn Britons {I). Yet with Usher did not concur Lloyd, the learned Bishop
of St. Asaph, who was an original thinker rather than the collector of the
opinions of others. According to this eminent scholar, the Picts were anciently
called Caledones, and were not of a different language from the Britons, nor
were called by any other name that we read of, till about three hundred years
after Christ (m). This explicit judgment of Lloyd did not, however, prevent
Stillingfleet, when he came out to defend this learned prelate against Sir George
M'Kenzie, from attempting a confutation of Lloyd 'on this Pictish question {n).
The notions of Stillingfleet are chiefly derived from Tacitus, who had not in-
fluenced Buchanan, nor Camden, nor Selden, nor Speed, nor Du Chesne, to
think absurdly on so obvious a point. In 1706 was published the History
of the Picts, which had been Avritten a century before by Henry Maul, who
concurred with Camden, and argued, from the North-British topography, that
their lineage was British. The Pictish history was followed in 1707 by
Lhuyd's Archaiologia. This learned writer now delivered it as his judgment
*' that the Picts were Britons without question, as appeared from the names
" of the mountains and rivers in the Loivlands of Scotland, where they in-
" habited." After reviewing such contradictory opinions, it is curious to
remark that those scholars who formed their judgments from reading books,
without attending to circumstances, considered the Picts as a Gothic people ;
while those scholars who weighed circumstances, examined topography, and
adverted to language, regarded the Picts as inhorn Britons, whose tongue was
Cambro-British. It will be found from the most elaborate researches that facts
must necessarily prevail against opinions.
At length Innes appeared \A'ith his Critical Essay in 1729, which he had
elaborated during twenty years. Like Lloyd, Innes is an original thinker
who forms his own opinions. He now reviewed with an elaborate pen the
(/) Eccles. Primord., ch. xv. (jh) Hist. Acco. of Church Gov., 1684, ch. i., § 3.
(ii) Origines Brit., 204-6. When Gibson repubhshed the Britannia in 1695, he referred in
a note to Usher's Primordia for the origin of the Picts, and added, that " Stillingfleet proves
"them to have their original from Scandinavia." It is quite wonderful that Gibson should have
opposed the loose collection of Usher, and the learned impertinences of Stillingfleet to the solid
sense of Camden, which will remain for ever. When Gibson had the rashness to attempt a con-
futation of Camden he seems not to have known that Camden had been supported by the concuiTence
of Selden, of Burton in his Antoninus, and of Sir William Temple in his Introduction to the history
of England.
Gg2
228 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book II.— The PictM Period.
several sentiments of those who had before him discussed the Pictish question.
He reconciles the conjecture of Tacitus (a) ; he explains the hearsay of Bede ;
he concurs with Lloyd ; he confutes Stillingfleet (b) ; and he at length de-
clares it to be more natural as Avell as more probable, that the Caledonian
Britons, or Picts, were of the same origin as the Britons of the South, who
came certainly from the nearest coast of Gaul, and who gradually advanced
northward, carrying with them the same customs and the same language
which they had themselves derived from the Gaulish Celts (c). The Critical
Essay of Inues made a great impression on the antiquarian prejudices of those
times, though he was encountered by opponents {d). But every research
which has yet been made, evinces that Innes was accurate in his authorities,
founded in his facts, and right in his conclusions.
The next in succession, though not in merit, who discussed the Pictish
question, was Sir John Clerk, who died in 1755 (e). The Critical Essay was
too recent for the perusal of such an antiquary, and the opinions of Buchanan
and Camden had been too little considered in his judgment to merit refuta-
tion ; nor can he allow to Davies and Lhuyd that the speech which they
had cultivated was once the Lingua Britannica, or the universal language of
Great Britain. But he who speculates on languages which must have existed
before the waters in the same country had received their names, only plunges into
the dark, unhottomed, infinite abyss whence none can find his uncouth way through
the palpable obscure {/). Yet our antiquary appears to have never inquired
(a) Gibbon concurs with Innes in tlie sound construction wbicli he gives to Tacitus's sentiments
as to the question, who were the first inhabitants of Britain. In fact Tacitus, after idly supposing
that different tribes may have had a different origin, at length gives his deliberate judgment : " On a
" general sui-vey, however, it appears probable that the Gauls originally took possession of the neigh-
" homing coast. The sacred rites and superstitions of those people are discernible among the Britons.
" The languages of the two nations (the Gauls and Britons) do not greatly differ." Yet Sir John
Clerk insisted that Tacitus had said the languages of the Gauls and Germans did not widely differ.
He must have hastily written from faint recollection.
(6) Ledwich, the Irish antiquary, observes that Stillingfleet had never been confuted. Ledwich
perhaps never saw Innes's work.
(c) Crit. Essay, v. i., p. 41 to 166.
(a) The Eev. T)x: Free tried to confute Innes"s judgment concerning the Pictish question in some
dissertations, which are now forgotten.
(e) He compiled, for the private hearing of a literary society, in 1742, his "Inquiry into the
" ancient languages of Great Britain," which was published in the Reliquia Galeance, p. 362, and
which was opposed even by its publisher, who saw its manifold defects.
(/) We have seen before, in b. i., ch. i., that the names of the waters within North-Britain are
significant in the Cambro-British speech, as explained by Davies and Lhuyd.
Ch.L— T he Pk-ts.] Op NOETH-BEITAIX. 229
who were the first inhabitants of Europe, or when the Goths came originally
into Western Europe ; but he is sure, in opposition to authorities and facts,
that the German nations were the first who peopled the greatest part of this
island ; he is clear that the Saxon speech was heard throughout the land be-
fore J. Caesar had defiled its shores with his ambitious feet ; he is certain that
" the Saxon language was what the Picts spoke," and he knew that " the true
ancient Scoto-Saxon language continues in the Orkneys to this day (g). The
true friends of so worthy a man must lament that his Inquiry should have
been exposed to the eye of criticism, because it must lessen his fame as an anti-
quary, and disparage his character as a scholar.
We are now advanced in reviemng the Pictish question to the present reign.
Guthrie published his History of Scotland in 1767. He professes to write
without regard to former systems of Scottish antiquities ; he considers ancient
languages as more instructive, because they are founded upon facts, than the
wild dreams of Irish or of northern antiquities ; he thinks that the speech of
the Celts was perhaps the mother language of the dead tongues in every part of
Europe ; and, after some obliquities, he comes at length to conclude that
the Picts, who were the unsubdued part of the Belgic-Britons, in the end
merged the very name of Caledonians (/i). It is apparent from Guthrie's
arguments that he relied more on Welsh philology than on the more instructive
inferences of local facts.
We now enter on the Polemic scene wherein the Macphersons and Whitaker
played conspicuous parts. In 1768, appeared Critical Dissertations on the an-
cient Caledonians, their posterity, the Picts, and the Biitish, and Irish Scots (i).
In proving what cannot indeed be denied, that the Picts were the posterity
{g) Galeanse, p. 362-3. It is demonstrably certain that tlie fii-st stratum of names on the map
of North-Britain is Oambro-British ; that the second stratum which, within Pictinia, was superinduced
upon the foi-mer was the Gaelic ; that the topographic language of the Orkneys, Norse as it is, is
as different from the Anglo-Saxon as any two languages can be that have a common origin. See
before b. i., chap. i. ii. ; b. ii., ch. iii. The inferences which necessarily result from the demon-
strations which those Books supply are very obvious to all who can reason without regard to
previous opinions ; that the Oambro-Britons were the first colonists who imposed those names on
places ; that the Gaelic-Scots were the second settlers in the loivlaiida who imposed their peculiar
names ; but that there was no room left for the intrusion of Gothic appellations. The Teutonic
names of places in the lowlands are Anglo-Saxon and English, which were imposed during recent
times, and of course do not apply to the Pictish question. It is singular to remark that the name of
Pen-y-cuik, whence Sir John Clerk dated his Inquiry, can only be rationally explained from the
British speech, and not from the Gothic or Gaelic.
(/() See his Introduction throughout.
(j) By John Macpherson, D.D., the minister of Sleat,
230 AnACCOUNT [Book II The Pictish Period.
of the Caledonians, he confutes some positions of Stillingfleet, and concurs with
the opinion of Camden (k). After refuting the learned Polemic, our Dissertator
is so weak as to deny the existence of the Pictish monarchy. He reads the Pictish
Chronicle in Innes, he sees the Pictish kings in Bede, acting in their proper
characters, both ecclesiastical and civil ; yet, cannot he perceive the Pictish
monarchy, whatever Innes may prove by the most satisfactory evidence. The
blindness of prejudice carries our Dissertator even beyond this incredulity ; he
admits the existence of the Picts as a people, yet denies the entity of their
speech as a language (I) ; and his ardour of Scoticism hurries him headlong
from the paths of truth which lay directly before him, into the obliquities of
error that have consigned his Critical Dissertations to long-enduring oblivion.
These Dissertations were immediately followed throughout their whole course
of inquiry by the Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland (m).
His precursor had already done so much to annihilate the Picts, that it did not
require much effort in our historical introducter, who affects " to look upon
" antiquity through the medium of the ancients," to adjudge the Picts to death
and hell by doom, severe (n). The arrogance which attempted to blot from
our history the genuine descendants of the first colonists of North-Britain, was
(^) Stillingfleet had been so unguarded as to argue that the Caledonians, having been wasted by
•war, left an opening for the Gothic Picts to come in upon them from Denmark during the
third century. Our Dissertator opposes such groundless suppositions by the improbability of such a
migration, and the silence of ancient writers. The total absence of Gothic names of persons and
of places during that age in the North-British topography is decisive proof that no such emigration
took place.
(/) He contends, he says, for the identity of the Pictish and Scottish tongues, as the Picts and Scots
were genuine descendants of the old Caledonians. It is, however, apparent that those tongues were
not identical, but were distinct dialects of the Celtic. The Scots were not genuine descendants of the
Caledonians, and did not speak the Caledonian language. The topography of North-Britain attests
ihe distinctness of the two people, and the difference of their tongues.
(?«) By the well-known James Macpherson, who supplied the Preface and other helps to the
Critical Dissertations. It was the great object of those two writers to revive the fabulous conceits
of the ancient priority of the Scots in North-Britain, which critical controversy had driven into obscure
darkness.
(«) The Picts are not so much as mentioned in Macpherson's ample Index, nor in his copious title
page, which specifies the Britons, the Irish, and the Anglo-Saxons. The painful reader, after turning
■over a hundred and twenty-nine pages, will find the Picts cursorily mentioned as having once existed
in the historic pages of Ammianus Marcellinus. But whether they spoke the Gaelic language or the
British he could not tell. I have been assured that James Macpherson tried throughout his life,
though without success, to discover the etymon of the name of Spey, the outrageous river on whose
banks he was born. Now this appropriate appellation is merely the Cambro-British Espeye, which
denotes the equalities of this overflowing stream.-
Chap. I.— r/;e P/rf.?.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 231
soon severely chastised. Every branch of the British root found a potent prop
in Whitaker. The Genuine History of the Britons appeared in 1772, which
undoubtedly is what it professed to be, "A Candid Eefutation of Mr. Macpher-
" son's Introduction." It may be said of this powerful assertor of the British
history, that "his words are smoother than oU, and yet be they very swords."
Macpherson fled from the ivords of Whitaker. The refutation of this ardent
Polemic evinces, in opposition to the mis-statements of Macpherson, that the
Picts were Caledonians, and that the Caledonians were Britons.
This conflict had scarcely ceased when there appeared "An Enquiry into
"the History of Scotland preceding 1056 (o)." By a meretricious display of
authorities, etymologies, and topography, he professes to show the opinions of
those erudite writers, Camden, Selden, and Lloyd to be false, ignorant and
childish (p). In order to fasten this censure upon such scholars, he dedicates
a whole chapter to prove that " the Northern Britons, Caledonians, and Picts
" were one and the same people {q)." A superficial reader would necessarily
suppose from this proof that our Inquu-er coincided in opinion with those
learned men who are said to talk falsely, ignorantly, and childishly ; for they
maintained that the Northei'n Britons were the same people as the Southern
Britons ; that the Caledonians were the descendants of the British colonists
from South Britain; that the Picts were merely the offspring of the Caledonians,
under a new name and a different aspect. He has, however, a thousand dis-
tinctions to shield himself from the charge of contradiction. The Northern
Britons were not, in his opinion, Cambro-Britons (r). The Caledonians and
Picts were, indeed, the same people ; but they were Goths from Scandia
who expelled the Cambro-Britons about two centuries before Christ (s). But
the research and learning of two centuries have not brought yet any proof of
the migration of a Gothic colony into North-Britain till the fifth age, when the
Angles arrived upon the Tweed. Every attempt to prove this improbability has
(o) By John Pinkeiton iu 1789. {])) Enquiry, v. i., p. 163. {q) lb., part iii., ch. i.
(?■) The demonstrations in the first chapter of the first book of this work confute this conceit.
is) Enquiry, v. i., p. 132, 146-160. The author saw that StUlingfleet's position of a Gothic
migration into North-Britain duiing the third century could not be maintained against the classic
writers, and he chose a darker age for his unauthorised assertion. Let any fair inquirer after truth
ran backward through the history of Europe from the epoch of Christ two hundi-ed years, and down-
ward from the same epoch two centuries, and he will satisfy himself of the impossibility of such a
migration during such times. The Gothic people who finally overthrew the Eoman empu'e did not
begin to move till 250 a.d. The topogi-aphy of Scotland during the two first centuiies of om-
common era, as it contains not a particle of Gothecism, evinces Lucidentally that such a migration of
Goths could not have taken place.
232 An ACCOUNT [Book ll.~T lie Pictish Period.
egregiously failed, because falsehood cannot be proved, Stillingfleet had learn-
ing, and our Inquirer exerted his diligence ; but they failed in establishing their
Gothic migrations, because such migrations never happened. Suffice it to say,
adds our Inquirer, " that every writer who mentions the origin of the Picts
"till 1707, when Lhuyd's Archseologia appeared, derive them from Scandinavia,
"excepting Camden alone, who was himself far from learned {t)." The writers
who are thus opposed by our Inquirer to Camden, who is mistakingly supposed
to have stood alone in maintaining the Cambro-British origin of the Picts, are
Nennius the Saxon Chronicler, Geoffi-ey of Monmouth, Giraldus Cambrensis,
O'Flaherty, Usher, Stillingfleet, and Sheringham (m). Our Inquirer was im-
mediately opposed by Ritson, who maintained, with equal learning and labour,
the Celtieism of the Picts, yet acknowledged that it would require a volume
to expose the errors, to exhibit the contradictions, and to confute the system of
the Enquiry, ] 789 (x).
The next writer who pretended to answer the Pictish question was Sibbald,
who published in 1802 "A Chronicle of Scottish Poetry." He adopts, as he
tells the reader, "the principal arguments of Sir John Clerk and Mr. Pinkerton
(J) lb., 198-9. Our author liad done iiveU to have also excepted Buchanan in 1582, Selden in
1613, du Ohesne in 1614, Speed in his Prospects, Maul in his History of the Picts, Burton in his
Antoninus, Sir W. Temple in 1695, Bishop Lloyd in 1684, Bishop Kennet in his Complete History of
England, 1706, and last, though not the least, Bochart, who all concurred with "the far from learned
Camden ! "
(») lb., 193-9. To this motley list our author might have added that curious chronicler Eobert
of Gloucester, who gives a very interesting account, which is obviously copied from Bede, " how
"the Pycars out of the lond of Scitie atta laste came to Yrlonde's north ende, and then into the
" lond of Scotland." It is quite allowable for the chroniclers of the middle ages to romance in this
manner. But who would quote such chroniclers, or even Bede, upon such a point which demands
research and reflection ! Yet our inquirer afterwards does admit that Camden is supported
by Lloyd, tines, Guthrie, Hume, Whitaker, Gibbon, and to these he might have added
Henry the historian. Enquiry, v. i., p. 200. By such assertions, however, and contradictions ;
by such sins against truth and confessions of error, are childish writers and elderly readers im-
posed on. Our inquirer, 1789, might have found a coadjutor in the late Eev. Dr. Walker, the
professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, who tried to support the doctrines of
Stillingfleet by a series of assertions which are not very consistent with facts. See his letter to
Dr. Lyttleton, the Bishop of Carlisle, dated the 28th of April, 1767. Archasolog., v. i., p. 231.
He has one passage which merits recollection : " One of the best Scots antiquaries with whom
" I lately conversed. Lord Auehinleck, one of our judges, was plainly of your lordship's senti-
" ments (Bishop Lyttleton) in questioning if such people (as the Picts) ever existed, I mean
" distinct from the British and Caledonians." We have already seen that Bishop Lyttleton and Lord
Auehinleck thus concurred with Camden, Selden, and other great antiquaries and historians on the
Pictish question.
(x) See the Historical Essay on Scotish Song, 1794.
Ch.L— The Picts.'] OfXOETH-BEITAIN. 233
" to prove the German origin of the Caledonians." As their several systems
have been already surveyed, the Gothic lucubrations of this shallow Chronicler
need not be awakened from their quiet slumbers (x).
In the progress of inquiry, the next writer who speculates on the origin and
language of the Picts, is the recent biographer of the Scottish poets. He thinks
it extremely probable that Scotland was originally peopled by a colony of
Cumri ; but how this Celtic race was superseded by invading Goths who never
invaded them, is the very question which the erudition of Europe cannot
answer. He thinks, however, " it may be conjectured that the Cumri were
" subjected by some new settlers " from some Gothic shore ; and he presumes
that the new settlers who settled, according to conjecture, might have per-
petuated the names which their predecessors had applied to mountains, rivers,
and other external objects ; yet, he hazards no opinion as to the cause why
there should be found no traces of such settlers in the North-British topography
dvu'ing the first, second, and thud centuries. He is positive, however, that if
the Picts were Goths, they must have spoken Gothic ; and if they were Celts,
they must have used the Celtic speech. This writer may be said, in the lan-
guage of Shakspeare, " to win us with honest trifles ; to betray us in deep
" consequence."
The latest investigator of the Pictish question is the erudite Edward King,
the curious author of the Munimenta Antiqua. After investigating the stone
monuments and the hill-forts, the ancient castles and the barbarous manners
of North-Britain, he gives it as his judgment " that the Picts were descended
" from the aboriginal Britons (^)." This profound antiquaiy concurs with the
late Doctor Henry in saying that " we hear nothing of any invasion of the
" Caledonians by any such distinct people as the Picts ; " and he, therefore,
concludes, as Innes had inferred before him, " that this denomination was
" merely a neio name which was given to the old settlers (z)."
The Caledonian descendants of the Celtic aborigines of North-Britain must
therefore be allowed to possess their native land till it can be clearly shown
when, and upon what occasion, they were dispossessed by Gothic intruders.
This has not yet been done either by the labours of learning, or the diligence
of research, either by the dexterities of sophistry or the perversity of design.
Possession in common life is never changed whatever may be the claim,
(x) His system is confuted iu the Prolegomena, and Glossary to the Poetical Works of Sir David
Lyndsay.
(y) Munimenta Antiqua, 1804, p. 181-5.
(z) lb., 179. Such, then, is the final answer to the Pictish question, which has been so much inves-
tigated by learned men, and so perplexed by paradoxical writers.
Vol. I. H h
234 An ACCOUNT [Bookll.— The Pictish Period.
without establishing a better right, not by presumptuous surmise, but by satis-
factory proofs.
The one-aud-twenty British tribes who occupied North-Britain during the
first century remained for ages in their ancient settlements. Five of those tribes
were subdued by the Roman arms, and were civilized by the Roman arts.
After the Roman abdication, those five tribes continued in their appropriate
covmtry on the south of the friths, distinguished by no other circiunstance
than their civilization, from the sixteen tribes who equally remained unsubdued
on the north of the same friths, and who obtained the name of Picts. The de-
scendants of those Romanized Britons enjoyed their ancient possessions on the
south of the friths, by the various names of Cumbrenses and Wallenses, which
denote their lineal descent from the Cambro-Britons, whose language they spoke.
If they were five of the pristine tribes of Caledonian Britons, however they may
have been civihzed by subduction, it follows as a consequence that the sixteen
tribes of Caledonians who remained unsubdued under the name of Picts, were
as much the descendants of the Cambro-Britons as their southern neighbours
of Strathclyde, who were noticed till recent times as genuine Welsh (a).
(a) The only difference between tlie Britons who lived on the north of the friths and the Britons
who dwelt in Strathclyde consisted merely in this, that the last were subdued and civilized Britons,
while the first had remained unsubdued and uncivilized, and consequently they both equally spoke the
Cambro-British speech, since they were all derived from a Canibro-British origin. As the writers
who strenuously insist that the Picts and Caledonians were Goths, yet acknowledge that the Britons
of Valentia were Celts, who spoke the Cambro-British language, it follows that such writers are
chargeable with inconsistency in maintaining such contradictory opinions upon such obvious questions.
The Inquirer, 1789, says " that when the Picts seized on the south of Scotland, the Britons of Valentia
"seem to have retired to the western parts." V. i., p. 82. "When the DaMads in 503 settled
" in Argyle, they became next neighbom's to those Britons, and they seem to have naturally fonned
" alliance from proximity of speech, both speaking the Celtic, though in different dialects." Id.
The Picts rather wished to have the Strathclyde Britons in their amity. It would have been
folly in the Picts to have attacked the Strathclyde Welsh. Id. And see p. 98-9 for the Welsh
of Strathclijde. " Aneurin, the author of the Gododin," says our Inquirer, ib., 98, "was of the north,
" and perhaps from Welsh manuscripts we might learn whether of Strathclyde or Cumbria. Merlin
"the Wild," he adds, "was of Strathclyde, as is clear from his life by Geoffry, compared with
Adamnan and Jocehn." Id. The poems both of Aneurin and of Merlin have been lately published
in the Welsh Archaeology, and show to every eye that the language of both is Cambro-British. The
context of several pages of Merlin evinces that his country was Caledonia, the land of the Picts. Our
Inquirer also shows that Gildas, the British Gildas, was bora at Alcluyd or Dunbriton, and that his
father Caunus was king of that country, who was also the father of Aneurin. Ib. 63. Bede,
he says, p. 62, mentions Alcluith as remaining in his time (731 a. d.) in the hands of the
Britons. Such is the power ot truth that it generally prevails in the end over the inconsistencies
of prejudice. This clue leads inquiry through the mizmaze of opinions and authors to knowledge and
certainty.
Oh. n.—The Strathclmjd Britons.'] OfNOETH-BKITAIN. 2 35
CHAP. n. ^
Of the Romanized Britons of the Cumbnan Kingdom in Nortli-Britain.
AT the period of the Eoman power in the British island, that extensive
country, from the r-amjjart of Severus to the wall of Antonine, was inhabited by
the five British tribes of Valentia, the Ottadini, the Gadeni, the Selgovse, the
Novantes, and the Damnii, who, as they were Roman citizens, were entitled
to Roman privileges (a). During the decline of the imperial power, the Roman-
ized Britons within the province of Valentia were often attacked by the Scots
from the west, and by the Picts from the north ; but wei-e as often defended by
the Roman armies, till the final abdication of ^he Roman government (6).
The Romanized provincials were by that event acknowledged to be an in-
dependent people. As they had been often urged to govern themselves, they
naturally assumed such forms as the occasion dictated, and established such
authorities as necessity required. The appointment of a pendragon, when dan-
ger approached, was a policy which was very familiar to all the descendants of
the British tribes. The practice of an enterprizing age, perhaps, pointed to the
fitness of such an officer, whether he were intended for the energies of attack
or the resolutions of defence. In every district of Britain, at the memorable
epoch of the Roman abdication, we behold princes playing their parts in the
busy scene. In the country of Valentia, which had been attacked, and was to
be defended, we equally see kings acting in their appropriate characters at the
head of their afiairs, protecting the land during the struggle of war, and
ruling their people amid the enjoyments of peace (c). Yet their authority
(a) I do not concur witli Innes, Crit. Essay, v. 1, p. 29-32, that the Maeatae, who were subdued
by Severus, inhPvbited the country of the five tribes, on the south of the wall of Antonine. They ob-
viously lived on the north of the same wall ; were confederated with the Caledonians, a kindred
people ; and, as an independent tribe, the Maeatae entered into treaties with Severus and Caracalla, as
we have ah'eady seen.
(J) lb. 22-24 ; and see the preceding book, ch. 6.
(c) Innes's Crit. Essay, vol. i., p. 32-6. Whitaker's Manchester, vol. ii., p. 92. Langhorn
has, indeed, given us, in his Chronicon Regum Anglorum, a series of the kings of Cumbria and
Ai'clude ; whether they can all be supported by sufBcient evidence may well be doubted. Some of
Hh2
2;)C A N A C C 0 U N T [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
appears to have been extremely limited. The chiefs of the various clans which
occupied the several districts exercised such unbounded power as to end often
in their own ruin. The jurisdiction of the prince and the pretensions of the
nobles often clashed ; and during an age of commotion, when the safety of
all required the strength of union and the concert of co-operation, the people
were distracted by domestic contests; the chiefs raised the dagger of resentment
against each other, and the land was exposed by continual anarchy sometimes
to invasion and at length to conquest.
At the epoch of their independence, the Romanized descendants of the five
tribes were attacked by the Picts with a view to plunder more than to sub-
jection ((/). The northern Caledonians continued to act on that occasion from
the constant habits of two centuries. When they envied tlie steed of the strangei's
they no doubt gratified their propensities ; but from the state of their civiliza-
tion, of their manners, and of their agriculture, they could neither raise nor
maintain considerable armies. Their incursions were made by few men, who
could soon do much mischief without many means. Their warfare consisted
of sudden invasions, and of hasty i-etreats when danger aj^proached and hosti-
lity pursued. They crossed the two friths in their canoes or their currachs,
and infested either side of Valentia ; they may have even passed the northern
fence when it was no longer defended by men who had arms in their hands
and resolution in their hearts ; but we have no historical notices which would
show that the Pictish invaders either formed settlements within the wall, or
claimed rightful possession of that ancient dominion. The notion which at-
tributes such pretensions to the Picts is unfounded in its principle, and
is modern in its application. The descendants of the five Caledonian
tribes who had been subdued by the arms and civilized by the arts of the
Romans, had the best right, from possession and descent, to the whole
country which lay between the two walls. This ample range of debatable
ground the Picts are said to have taken possession of as their oivn, after the
final retreat of the Roman forces (e). But what of his own can an individual
those princes, however, as his first Caun, his second Hoel, his foui-th Marcen, his seventh
Eyderych, and his twelfth Oonstantine, we shall hereafter find in the obscure narratives of con-
temporary writers.
{d) Gildas offends by declamation, rather than informs by a connected narrative of facts and circum-
stances, with regard to the events which happened on the obscure iri-uptions of the Picts and Scots,
during the eventful years 440 and 448, a.d.
(e) Innes's Grit. Essajr, vol. i., p. 32 : North-Britain was, by the retreat of the Romans, left
under '• the dominion of the Scots and Picts," says the late royal historioj^rapher. Hist, of Soot.,
V. i., p. 3. This assertion is faulty in two respects : (1) It is demonstrably certain that the Scots
Ch. n.—The Strathcluyd Britons.'] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 237
enjoy till he exist ? How can a nation consisting of many individuals be
entitled to rights till its formation as a community ? The Picts of that age
ought to be considered as a congeries of clans who, as they were connected by
very slight ties, may have enjoyed many separate pretensions, rather than a
people who, having been formed into a body politic or nation, were entitled to
public rights.
Meantime, neither history nor records nor tradition intimates that the
civilized descendants of the two British tribes, the Ottadini and Gadeni, asso-
ciated themselves into a community at the era of their independence, or formed
the country, extending from the Tweed to the Forth, and from the east coast to
the midland mountains, into a dominion. The silence of all those instructors
seems to speak, what events will show, that they were early invaded by a people
from the sea, by the Anglo-Saxons, who came to settle rather than to plunder.
When the day of trial arrived the Ottadini and Gadeni acted like the descen-
dants of the Britons : they defended themselves when they were attacked by
ferocious invaders with more bravery than skill, and with more skill than
concert. The battle of Catraeth decided the fate of the country, which the
disunion and ebriety of the Ottadini and Gadeni could not defend against the
union and fortune of the Saxon intruders [f).
The Romanized posterity of the Selgovse, the Novantes, the Daninii, with
the fugitive children of the Gadeni and Ottadini, associated themselves for
their common defence as misfortune drew near ; and they erected their paternal
territories into an appropriate community, which was sometimes called Regnum
Camhrense or Cumhrense, and oftener the kingdom of Strathcluyd, according
to the usual inaccuracy of the middle ages. This Cumbrian kingdom of the
Romanized Britons extended from the Irthing, the Eden, and the Solway on
the south, to the Upper Forth and Loch-Lomond on the north, and from the
Irish sea and the frith of Clyde, which washed its western shores, it ranged
eastward to the lunits of the Merse and Lothian. It included withm those
ample bounds Liddesdale, Teviotdale, Dumfries-shire, all Galloway, Ayrshire,
Renfrewshire, Strathclyde, the middle and Avest parts of Stirlingshire, and
did not tlaen inhabit Nortli-Britain ; see the proof of this position in the subsequent chapter : (2.)
The Picts, who were not at the epoch formed into a community, never enjoyed the dominion of the
Eoman province of Valentia : for proofs of this position, see book ii., ch. 4.
(y) Aneurin laments in pathetic strains, throughuut his Gododin, the free use which his
British countrymen had made of the bewitching mead, before they entered into the conflict of
Catraeth.
238 AnACCOUNT [Book 11.— The Pictish Period.
the greater part of Dumbartonshire [g). The metropohs of this kingdom was
Alcluyd, which they still retained when the pen dropped from the venerable
hand of Bede in 734 A.D., and which is situated on the north bank of the
Clyde at the influx of the Leven. The descriptive name of Alcluyd, which
signifies in the British language, the roclcy height on the Cluyd, was applied to
this bifurcated rock, on the commodious summit whereof those associated
Britons had a very strong hill-fort, which they called Caer- Alcluyd, and which
formed a secure residence for their reguli (6). To this fortress the Scoto-Irish
subsequently applied the name of DtinhYiton, signifying the fortress of the
Britons, and this appropriate appellation has in modern times by an easy
transition been converted into Dunbarton.
Such was the outline of the Cumbrensian kingdom of the five British tribes
during the more early period of its insecure existence. But the constant en-
croachments of the Saxons laid open its ancient boundaries on the south-east.
The oj^en country of Teviotdale, which formed the eastern extremity of the
Cumbrian kingdom, though it was protected by a natural barrier of mountains
on the south, yet on the east its facility of access invited the inroads of the
Saxon invaders, who already possessed Northumberland and the Merse. The
rugged country upon the west and south-west formed a powerful boundary
to the associated Britons. To this natural defence they do not seem to have
altogether trusted. Antiquarian research has discovered the remains of an arti-
{g) The tradition of the people, as stated on oath in the Tnquisitio BavuJis, 1116 a.d., gave those
limits to the Cumbrian kingdom. Cumbria is therein said to lie " inter Angliam et Scotiam." Now,
England was then bounded on the north-west by the Solway, the Esk, and the Kershope ; and the
Scotia of that age was confined to the north of the Friths. The fact is, that in the age of David I.
the whole bishopric of Glasgow, which then comprehended all those countries, was called Cnmbria ;
as wa learn from the chartulary of Kelso, No. 1, and from several charters and bulls in the chartulary
of Glasgow. On the river Annan, in Dumfries-shire, there is an extensive hill, which was called in
Font's Map, Di-uym-Brettan, in the Scoto-Irish tongue, and is named in Ainslie's map of Scotland,
Drum-Brettan, the ridge of the Britons.
(/i) All, Allt, and Alt, in the L'ish, as well as in the British, signify a rocky cliff or rocky height.
The prefix Caer means in the British a fortress, a fortified town. Davies, Owen, O'Brien. "I know not
why," saith Foujas de St. Fond, " Mr. Pennant should say, in speaking of the rock on which
Dumbarton castle stands, that its height is stupendous : I found that it did not exceed two hundi'ed and
fifty feet." Travels, v. i., p. 228. When Harding visited this rock in 1434, the tide regularly flowed
around it. In his Chronicle, fol. ccsxxi., he says,
" That mai been hold out long, when ye begyn,
" Save Dumbretain, the sea aboute dooth ryn,
" Eche dale and night, twice, withouten doubte,
" Whiche maie bee woone, by famishyng aboute."
Ch. n.—The Stralhchnjd Britons.'] Or NOETH -BRITAIN. 239
ficial safeguard, which is known in the country by the several names of the Cat-
rail, and of the Pictsworhditch. The Catrail is the British name of ancient times,
and signifies in the British language what distinctly intimates the purpose for
which it was made, the dividing fence or the partition of defence (i). The
name of the Pictsivorkditch was applied to this remarkable fence in more modern
times by the same people who called Severus's wall the Pictswall, and other
objects by the same well-known name. The Catrail, consisting of a fosse and
a double rampart, runs through the shhes of Selkirk and Roxburgh, from
Galashiels on the north to the Peel-fell at the eastern extremity of Liddesdale
on the south.
The PictsworJcditch first appears on the north at a farm called Mosalee, a
mile westward from Galashiels, near the obvious remains of a Bi'itish fort. From
Mosalee, it runs southward by the west side of Boghall, and at the end of two
miles arrives at the Rink-hill, on the summit of which there are the remains,
as the name implies, of a British hill-fort, that is of an elliptical form, and is
defended by two ditches and two ramparts of earth and stone (k). From the
Rink-hill, the Pictsworkditch proceeds in a south-west direction across the
Tweed near the influx of the Howdenpot-burn, and continues its course to
a British fort on the west side of this stream (I). From this fort the Picts-
workditch passes Cribshill, and is again discovered several miles westward,
passing along the south-east declivity of Minchmoor, whence it passes Henhill-
hope, where it is distinctly seen in its obvious course for a quarter of a mile.
It afterwards clearly appears as it ascends the Swinebraehill above Yarrow-
kirk, and passing the Yarrow river near Redhawse, it is again observable
several miles southward near Delorain-burn, on the south side of Ettrick river.
From this position it has been traced across Coplaw, and thence southward by
the base of Stanhopelaw, where its singular remains are pretty distinct. For
(?) In the British speech. Cad signifies a strwing to keep or to defend — an engagement, a battle ;
and Rhail in the same tongue means ivhat divides, or parts off, a division. Owen's Diet. In British
composition the (d) changes to (t).
{k) Ainslie, in his map of Selkirkshire, has given this part of the Picksworkditch a wrong
direction, and the British fort on Eink-hill an improper position, placing it more than half a mile
too far eastward ; and he mistakingly calls the Catrail a Roman road, and the British fort a Eoman
camp.
{L) This fort is of the same form, but of smaller dimensions than the British strength on the
Eink-hill. It should be represented just above the letter (p) in Howdenpot-burn, in Ainslie's map of
Selkirkshh-e, saith the Eev. Dr. Douglas at Galashiels. It is to this very intelligent and obliging
minister that the public are indebted for these accurate statements vrith regard to the Catrail, which
he kindly communicated to me after the most minute inspection.
240 AnACCOUNT [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
some distance southward of Stanhopelaw it cannot now be traced, owing to
the swampiness of the country ; but the Pictswoikditch again appears on Hen-
woody common, whence it proceeds in a south-west direction across Borth-
wick water past a farmstead called Broadlee, where the remains of it become
very distinct for the course of a mile and a half till it reaches Slatehillmoss.
From this position it proceeds foi'ward in a south-east direction aci'oss Teviot
river, through the farm of North-house to Dockcleugh-hill, where its remains
are very distinct. From Dockcleugh-hill it continues a south-east course in a
slanting form across Allan- water to a place named Dod, passing two hill-forts
on the left (m). From Dod, where its remains are distinct, the Pictswork-
ditch proceeds eastward past another British fort called Whitehillbrae, and it
there ascends the Carriage-hill, on which its remains are very perfect. From
Carriage-hill it proceeds across a rivulet called Langside-burn ; and here,
says Gordon the tourist, " it becomes the land-mark betwixt the Duke of
" Buccleuch's estate and Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs." From Langside-burn
its remains appear very distinct as they pass along the northern base of the
Maiden Paps to the Leapsteel, and thence j^assing Pi,obertslin it traverses a
tract of boggy ground called Cockspart ; crossing the hills into the upper parts
of Liddesdale, the remains of it again appear on Dawstane-burn, and thence
passing the Abbey it goes on to Dawstane-rig. From this position faint vestiges
of it were traced nearly to the Peel-fell, which is one of the chain of mountains
that forms a natural barrier between Northumberland on the south and Teviot-
dale and Liddesdale on the north {n).
(j») These Britisli strengtlis are placed as usual on the tops of heights, which are surrounded by
fosses and ramparts, and appear in elliptical forms. One of these is called Dockcleugh-castle ; the
other stands on an eminence which is called Burgh-hill, and is situated on the east side of Allan-
water.
(n) After bringing the Oatrail to the Peelfell, Gordon says, " but a more distinct track of
" it afterwards appeared to me in another journey near Langham (Langholm) ; whence it runs
" towards Canoby on the river Esk." Itin. Septent., p. 103. This cannot be connected with the
end of the Catrail, that he left at Peelfell, which is more than eighteeen miles north-east from
Langholm and Canoby, having the whole extent of Liddesdale between them. A Roman vicinal
road, indeed, led past Canoby and Langholm, up Eskdale to Castle-Over. Gordon, perhaps from
a superficial view of this way, has supposed it to be the continuation of the Catrail, though it must
be confessed they are very much unlike. As the Catrail at Peelfell reached a strong barrier of
mountains, it was probably ' discontinued at this natural tennination. If it ever extended further,
it probably ran along the heights which separate Liddesdale and Northumberland, to the top of
Kershope, and from thence southward to the Eoman wall. The accurate Dr. Douglas says
" when at Gillsland, in 1789, I thought I could perceive traces of the Catrail leaving the Roman
-"wall about five or six miles to the west of this place at a station upon the wall." This useful
Ch. IL—T/ie Sfrathcluyd Britons.'} OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 241
The whole course of the Catrail, which has been thus traced from the vici-
nity of Galashiels to Peel-fell, is U2")wards of forty-five miles (o). The most
entire parts of the Catrail show that it was originally a broad and deep fosse,
having on each side a rampart, which was formed of the natural soil that was
thrown from the ditch intermixed with some stones. Its dimensions vaiy in
different places. This variation may be partly owing to its remains being more
or less perfect. In those parts where it is pretty entire on the north of the
Rink-hill, on Dockcleugh-hill, on Carriage-hiU. at Leapsteel, and at the Abbey,
the fosse is twenty-six and twenty-five feet broad ; in one place, which was
measured by Dr. Douglas, the fosse was twenty-seven and a half feet broad.
But in those parts where the rampart has been most demolished the fosse
only measures twenty-two and a half feet, twenty, and eighteen, and in one
place only sixteen feet wide (p). In some of the most entire parts Gordon
found the ramparts from six to seven,, and even nine or ten feet high, and from
eight to ten and twelve feet thick. The accidents of time and the improve-
ments of tillage have, however, destroyed much of them, and lessened the
height of those which remain, the singular objects of rational curiosity (q).
In its original state the Catrail must have formed a connected chain of de-
fence along its extended course, being only interrupted in some parts by
the channels of rivers or by impassable swamps, which formed themselves a
sufficient fence. Along its ample extent there are several forts of the British
people which were built either on the contiguous hills or on the neighbour-
ing heights. But there are not upon the Catrail, as some antiquaries imagine,
notice lie stated to me in his letter dated the 7th January 1796. This could not be the Maidenwat)
which Dr. Douglas thus saw, for the Maidenway leaves the wall a considerable distance eastward of
GUlsland, and proceeds northward along the eastern extremity of Cumberland to the top of Kershope,
which separates Liddesdale and Cumberland. It is called by the historians of Ciimberland, a Roman
road. Cough's Camden, v. iii., p. 177, says it is eight yards broad and is paved with stones. It can-
not of course be connected with the Catrail.
(o) Gordon indeed limits its extent to two-and-twenty miles ; but this limitation was merely
conjecture. Mensurations on the maps of the shires of Selkirk and Roxburgh, evince its real length
to have been more than five-and-forty miles exclusive of its windings.
{p ) In several parts which were measured by Dr. Douglas, the fosse was twenty and twenty-two
and a half feet wide. Gordon says it was only eighteen feet broad on Swinebraehill and only sixteen
feet broad near Stanhopelaw. As the ramparts sloped on the inside, it is obvious that in proportion
as they were demolished, the width of the fosse within would be diminished.
{([) Dr. Douglas found that in many parts the ramparts do not now much exceed three feet high.
Some old farmers in Ettrick forest informed him that the remains of the Catrail have been much
diminished in their remembrance, and that the traces of it are becoming less visible every day.
Vol. I. I i
242 A N A C C 0 U N T. [Book U.—The Pictish Period.
a regular series of redoubts such as gave sti'ength and ornament to the
Roman walls (6).
Gordon, who has the merit of having first brought this curious remain into
notice, absurdly supposes it to have been a liines or boundary which the Ca-
ledonians established after their peace with the emperor Severus (c). He ought
to have recollected that this work is in the country of the Romanized Britons
of Valentia, and lies far from the land of the Majatse and Caledonians. Mait-
laud, with equal absurdity, has converted the Catrail into a Roman road. If
he had only examined it he would have seen that it is as different from a
Roman road as a crooked is from a straight line, or as a concave work is from
a convex. The able and disquisitive Whitaker was the first who applied the
Catrail to its real purpose by referring it to its proper period (d). There can
hai'dly be a doubt whether the Catrail was once a dividing fence between the
Romanized Britons of the Cumbrian kingdom and their Saxon invaders on
the east. It cannot indeed be fitly referred to any other historical period of
the country which is dignified by the site of this interesting antiquity. The
Britons and the Saxons were the only hostile people whose countries were
separated by this warlike fence, which seems to have been exactly calculated to
overawe the encroaching spirit of the Saxon people (e).
(b) Much of the description and many of the particulars which have now been stated with regard
to the Catrail, are given from the mensurations and observations of the very intelligent Doctor
Douglas. Gordon's Jtin. Septen., p. 102-3 ; Stat. Acco., v. viii., p. 554 ; v. xi., p, 545 ; r. xvii., p.
92. ; Stobie's Map of Eoxburghshire and Ainslie's Map of Selkirkshire have supplied their several
aids. The correct information of Dr. Douglas with the county maps, have helped to correct some of
the inaccuracies and to illustrate some of the obscurities of Gordon's account of the Catrail. Pennant
has given from Gordon an abridged and loose sketch of the course of the Catrail. Tour in Soot., v. ii.,
p. 264.
(c) Itin. Septen., 103-4.
(d) Hist. Manch., v. ii., p. 93., 4to edit. The Catrail however does not run from Canoby, on the
Esk. It is not a breast-work, nor is it lined all the way on the west with forts like the Roman walls.
It does not continue itself by an additional chain of castles along the Gala-water. The Catrail is
certainly a work of great extent and of immense labour ; but it shows more perseverance than skill.
Though it appears to have been constructed for a similar purpose with the Roman walls, yet in point
of strength, regularity, and completeness, it is far inferior to those noble examples of ancient art. Ill
extent only the Catrail exceeds the waU of Antonine.
(e) The Catrail cannot be referred to a more early period, for it rans through the middle of the
country which had previously been possessed by the Gadeni, and could not of course have been con-
structed as a boundaiy by them. Nor can it be referred to a more recent period, as there could be no
reason for forming such a warlike fence after the Saxons had intruded upon the whole country which
the Catrail divides. There is a similar work near the Eldon-hUls, which has been already described '
as pointing to the Tweed, and which is an additional evidence of the struggles of the Britons in that
period against their powerful invaders. See book i., ch. iv.
Ch. Il.—Tke Strathclmjd Britons.] 0 f N 0 R T H - B R I T A I N . 243
Of this curioiis remain no traces have been ascertained beyond Mosalee on
the north. It is however probable that it may have proceeded as, indeed,
some antiquaries have supposed, in a north-east direction across the Gala-water
into Upper Lauderdale, and thence athwart the country to the eastern sea. The
separate remains of such a work proceeding eastward to the sea have been dis-
covered by different persons at several times. The very accurate Kinghorn,
who surveyed for me the Roman remains in Lauderdale during November
1803, informed me that he had traced a high earthen rampart and large
fosse running off from a British fort on a height near Channel Kirk on the
west in a north-east direction, across the highest source of Leader-water for
the extent of a mile, and thence eastward through the Lammermoor-hills ; and
the inhabitants on its tract assured this ingenious surveyor that the remains of
this singular work may be traced at intervals throughout Lammermoor to the
neighbourhood of Dunbar. Upwards of fifty years ago the intelligent John
Spottiswoode, the old laird of Spottiswoode, traced a similar rampart and
fosse from a British strength called the Haerfaulds, on a hill two miles north-
west of Spottiswoode, throughout the countiy to the vicinity of Berwick-on-
Tweed. In that age it was in various places very discernible, and was known to
the people by the name of Herrit's-dike {/). In the ascertained track of this
ancient fence thei'e are several British strengths situated as usual on their
several heights (g). Whether those several ramparts which traversed Berwick-
shire be the same as the Catrail is not quite certain ; but there cannot be any
reasonable doubt whether they were all made by the same British hands for
the same purpose of defence during the same obscure age of hostile intrusion.
The most early reguli of the Cumbrian kingdom after the Roman abdica-
tion of whom any notice remains, is Cawn or Caw, that is mentioned by liis
son Gildas, who, if we may credit the Welsh genealogists, is but another name
(/) I owe tlie communication of his father's survey of this curious remain to the kindness of my
late worthy friend John Spottiswoode of Sackville Street. The minister of Greenlaw said in 1795,
that the remains of an earthen mound, with a ditch, called Herrit's-dike, ran across his parish, pass-
ing about a mile northward of Greenlaw. It could formerly have been traced fourteen miles eastward,
and tradition attests that it proceeded in the same direction as far as Berwick. Stat. Acco., v.
siv., p. 512.
(g) At a hamlet called Chesiers, the sure intimation of an ancient strength, there are the remains
of a British fort in the west of Fogo parish, ib. v. xx., p. 276 ; wherein this is mistakingly supposed
to be a Roman camp. See Armstrong's Map of Berwickshire. Near Dogdenmoss, where Herrit' s-dike
appeared remarkably distinct, there was another British fort called Black-castle-rinys ; and in that
vicinity there is another British fort. Id. Old John Spottiswoode says, in his manuscript account of
that rampart, " he had heard when a boy that a silver chain was found at it opposite to Greenlaw,
" and was given to the Earl of Marchmont.''
Ii2
244 An ACCOUNT [Bookll— 7' he Pictish Period.
for Aneurin the Cambrian Poet. Caw was driven from his kingdom with his
numerous issue at the close of the fifth century by the envy of the Picts. Caw
found an asyhim and lands among his countrymen in Wales, where his name is
still revered as the fruitful progenitor of many monks (h).
At the commencement of the sixth century Caw was succeeded in his
authority over the Cumbrian kingdom, and in his misfortunes by his son Huail,
the Hoel or Coyle of the chronicles. Huail began to exercise his feeble powers
at the same time with the Arthur of history, who was called by the distresses
of his country to the supreme command over jealous chiefs. Huail had the
unhappiness to attract the notice or to provoke the enmity of that powerful
pendragon. The hostihty of Arthur obliged Huail to flee from Strathcluyd
into Anglesey, where he was put to death amidst the tears of his relations (i).
Henry of Huntingdon, in relating the conflicts of those times, remarks that
among the Britons the cessation of foreign war was merely the signal for
domestic hostihties. Ai'thur thus established his power over Strathcluyd,
and even fixed one of the seats of his authority at Alcluyd, which thenceforth
was called Castrum Arthuri (k). If we may believe the Welsh chronicles, he
even pursued the neighbouring Picts beyond Lochlomond, as they had pressed
upon the Britons of Strathcluyd. The authority and influence of that
uncommon character extended from a.d. 508, when he was chosen Pendragon
to 542, when he received his death's wound in the fatal battle of Camlan (I).
The valorous Arthur of history, or the redoubtable Arthur of romance, has
supplied the topography of North-Britain with such significant names as seem
to imply either that the influence of the real Arthur was felt, or the
remembrance of the fictitious Arthur was preserved, for many ages after the
Pendragon had fallen, by the insidious stroke of treachery from the kindred
hand of Modred (in).
(A) Langliom's Chron. Appen. ; Lhuyd's Com. ed. Williams, p. 42 ; and tte Welsh. Triads.
(t) Usher states the death of Howel, in Anglesey, anno 508. Primord, 677-8, 1123 ; Lang-
horn's Chron., p. 29. In the Welsh Triads, as quoted by Owen in his Dictionary, in vo. Penteyrnedd,
it is said, " Arthur ynbenteyrnedd yn Mhenryn Rhionydd yn y gogledd, Cyndeyrn Garthwys ja
'• beuesgyb, a Gvsrthmwl wledig yn benhynaiv." Arthur, a supreme of princes, at the promontory of
Ehionyth in the north, and Cyndeyrn Garthwys [Kentigern] archbishop, and Gwrthmwl wledig chief
of elders.
(k) Parliamentary Eecord, Temp. Dav. ii.
(/) Ush. Prim., p. 1123-1137 ; ^re Camb. apud William's Comment.
(m) It is amusing to remark how many notices the North-British topography furnishes, with
regard to Arthur, whose fame seems to brighten as inquiry dispels the doubts of scepticism, and
archaeology establishes the certainties of truth. In Clydesdale, within the parish of Crawford, there
>
Ch. U.— The Stratkclui/d Britons.] Op NORTH-BRITAIN. 245
The splendour of Arthur's fame seems to have obscured the name of his
successor in Sti-athcluyd, He was followed by Marken the Meirchjawn of
is Arthur's fountain ; in 1239 there was a grant of David de Lindsay to the monks of Newbotle,
of the lands of Brotheralwyn in that district, which were bounded on the west part, " a fonte
" Arthuri usque ad summitate mentis." Chart. Newbotle, No 148. The Welsh poets assign a
palace to Arthur among the Northern Britons at Pennjn-Ryoneth. In Lhuyd's Cornish vocabu-
lary, p. 238, Penrt/n-rioneth is called, the seat of the Prince of Cumbria ; and see also Richard's
Welsh Dictionary. The British Penri/n supposes a promontory, with some circumstance which
reduplicates its height ; and this intimation points to Alcluijd, the well-known metropolis of the
Romanized Britons in Strathclyde ; now, a parliamentary record of the reign of David ii. in
1367, giving a curious detail of the king's rents and profits in Dunbartonshire, states the " redditum
" assize Castri Arthuri," MSS. Reg. House ; Paper-OfSce. The Castle of Dimbarton, therefore,
was the Castrum Arthuri, long before the age of David ii. See the site of Dunbarton, in Ainslie'a
Map of Renfrewshire. The Point of Cardross was the J?/(yn-Ryoneth ; the castle of Dunbarton
was the Pen-rhyn-ryoneth. According to the British Triads, Kentigern, the well-known founder
of the church of Glasgow, had his episcopal seat at Pen-rhyn-Ryoneth. The romantic castle of
Stirling was equally supposed, during the middle ages, to have been the festive scene of the round-
table of Ai'thur. "Rex Arthurus," says William of Worcester in his Itinerary, p. 311, " Cus-
" todiebat le round-table in castro de Styrlyng, aliter, (S'nou)rfo)i-west-castell." The name of Snow-
don castle is nothing more than the Snud-dun of the Scoto-Irish people, signifying the fort or
fortified hill on the river, as we may learn from O'Brien and Shaw ; and the Snud-dun has been
converted to Snow-dun by the Scoto-Saxon people, from a retrospection to the Snow-don of
Wales, which is itself a mere translation from the Welsh. In NeUston parish in Renfrewshire,
there still remain Arthur-\.QS, Low Arthur-\e&, and West Arthur-leo. Arthur s-oyea on the Car-
ron was known by that name as early if not earlier than the reign of Alexander HI. In 1293
William Gurlay granted to the monks of Newbotle " fiiTaationem unius stagni ad opus molendini
" sui del Stanhus quod juxta furnum Arthuri infra baronium de Dunypas est." Chart. Newbotle,
No. 239. The name of Arthur' s-Seat at Edinburgh is said by a late inquirer, "to be only a
" name of yesterday." Yet that remarkable height had that distinguished name before the
pubUcation of Camden's Britannia in 1585, as we may see in p. 478 ; and before the publication of
Major in 1521, as appears in fo. 28 ; and even before the end of the 15th century, as Kennedy in
his flyting with Dunbar, mentions " Arthur Sate or ony hicher hill." Ramsay's Evergreen, v. ii.,
p. 65. This is not the only hill which bears the celebrated name of Arthur. Not far from the top
of Loch-Long, which separates Argyle and Dunbarton, there is a conical hill that is called Ar-
thur's Seat. Guide to Loch Lomond, pi. iii. A rock on the north side of the hill of Dunbar-
row in Dunnichen parish Forfarshire, has long borne in the tradition of the country the distin-
guished name of Arthur's Seat. Stat. Aeco., v. i., p. 419. In the parish of Coupar-Angus in
Perthshire there i.s a standing stone called the Stone of Arthur; near it is a gentleman's seat called
Arthur-stone, and not far from it is a fai'm named Arthur's fold. But it is at Meigle in the
same vicinity, that the celebrity of Arthur and the evil-fame of his queen Venora are most dis-
tinctl}' remembered. Pennant's Tour, v. ii., p. 177-8 ; and Stat. Acco., v. i., p. 506 ; and above all
see Bellenden's Boece, fo. Ixviii., for the origin of the popular fictions at Meigle about Ai-thur
I and Venora. The Scottish chroniclers, Barbour and Wyntown, were perfectly acquainted with
I the Arthur of romance. We may easily infer from the local facts that his story must have been
246 An ACCOUNT [BookU.— The Pictish Period.
the British chronicles. Marken is chiefly remembered for his enmity to Ken-
tigeru, the founder of the Episcopate of Glasgow ; and for his premature death,
as the appropriate punishment for raising his sacrilegious foot against that holy
man (n).
After the death of Mai'ken, a contest among the chiefs for superiority left
Rydderech the bountiful in the government of Strathcluyd. One of his
first acts was to recall Kentigern to the seat of his usefulness (o). Such were
the events which occupied five-and-thirty years, from the death of Arthur to
the battle of Arderyth in 577. The British Triads reprobate this skirmish
as the nugatory battle of Britain. Whatever cause may have moved the wrath
of the kings, whether a bird's nest or a disputed boundary, Rydderech, the
munificent king of Strathcluyd, defeated on the height of Arderyth, Aidan
of Kintire, who is stigmatized by Merlin, the Caledonian poet, as Aeddan
Fradawg, the jDerfidious Aidan {p). Merlin was a witness of the conflict ;
equally known to Thomas of Ercildun a century sooner. In 1293 tLe Monks of Newbotle
knew liow to make a mill-dam with the materials which they found on the banks of the CaiTon.
Su" Michael Bruce of Stanltus thought it necessary in 1743 to pull down Arthur s Oon, one of the
most curious remains of antiquity, for the stones which it furnished for building a mill-dam. The
enraged antiquaries consigned Sir Michael to eternal ridicule. See the Antiquary Eepertory, v. iii.,
p. 74-5. Sir David Lindsay in his Complaynt of the Pajnni/o, makes her take leave of Stirling
Castle thus :
" Adew fair Snawdoun, with thy towris hie,
" Thy chapell royall, park, and tdbyll round."
And in his Dreme, he mentions his having diverted James V. when young with " antique storeis
" and deidis martiall,"
" Of Hector, Arthur, and gentile Julius,
'• Of Alexander, and worthy Pompeius."
This shows that the stories of Arthur were then ranked among those of the most celebrated heroes of
antiquity.
(h) Langhorn's App. ; Lhuyd's Comment. Ed. Williams, p. 42 ; Jocelin's Life of Kentigern, ch.
xxii. Jocelin, who died in 1199, relates thatMorken died at a royal village which was then known by
the Saxon name of " TAor/j-morken."
(o) lb., ch. XXX.
(p) Welsh ArchaeoL, v. i., p. 151. It is of more importance to settle the site of the conflict of
Arderyth, to give it a local position as well as a poetic name. It was not on the Solway as the
editor of Lhuyd's Commentariolum supposes, p. 142, but on the Clyde, as probability attests.
From a consideration of all the circumstances, it seems more than probable that Airdrie in the
parish of New Monkland, Lanarkshire, which was in the territory of Eydderech, and is at no great
distance from the Clyde, is the true site of the battle of Arderyth. In the Airdari^A of the Irish,
signifying the height of the course or flight, the (th) are quiescent ; but in the British language, the
(th) are both written and spoken. Merlin the Caledonian poet is very lavish in praise of the Apple-
trees of Lanerch, while he reprobates the battle of Arderyth. See his Avallenau in the Welsh
Archaeology, v. i., p. 151.
Ch. II. — The Strathcluyd Britons.\ OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 247
and he had the envied honour of wearing on that decisive day the golden
torques. Gwenddolau, the patron of Merhn, fell in the treacherous field.
He merited a more disgracefid fate. Gwenddolau, according to the habits of
the people and the perturbations of the age, had called in Aidan as an auxi-
liary against the munificent king of Alcluyd. Rydderech enjoyed the com-
fort of Columba's advice, the favour of Adamnan's recollection, as well as the
panegyric of the Caledonian Merlin, and the celebration of the British
Taliesin (j). In the curious passage from Adamnan we see a singular picture
of the manners of the times, when a king could ask a saint about his fate, as
he felt his throne to be unstable ; and the biographer could attest the fulfilment
of the prophecy. Columba died in 597; Eydderech in GOl; and Adam-
nan in 704 A.D. (r).
Meantime, Aidan the Scoto-Irish king, confederated with Malgon the
Cumbrian prince against the Saxons. In 584, with their joint arms, they
defeated the Saxon powers in the battle of Fethanlea, or Stanemore, a stony
district on the eastern borders of Westmoreland, which was then inhabited by
the Britons (s). Aidan again coming to the aid of the Britons, defeated the
intruding Saxons in the battle of Leithredh {t). He was defeated by them,
however, at the battle of Kirkinn, during the year 598 {u) ; and he was
totally overthrown by the Northumbrians in 603 A.D., on the fatal field of
Dawstane, within the country of the Britons {x).
The fears of Rydderch, the late munificent king of the Cumbrian Britons,
appears to have been only for himself. He seems to have left no sons to in-
herit his unstable power. There is reason to believe that the chiefs contended
(g) Eydderech, the son of Totaill (Tudwall) sent to St. Columba; •' wishing to know if lie
" should be slain by his enemies or not." The Saint made answer, "He shall never be deli-
" vered into the hands of his enemies, but shall die in his own house upon his pLUow." Adam-
nan, the writer of Columba's life, adds emphatically, " according to the Saint's vaticination, Eo-
" derc died an easy death in his own house." Vita Columb. L. i., cap. sv.
(r) The British Triads in giving an account of the three generous ones of Britain, mention Ehy-
derech the son of Twdwal as one of them. For his genealogy see Lhuyd's Comment., Edit.
WiUiams, p. 142. Eydderech died the same year with Kentigern, 601, " in villa regia que Pcrtmet
" nuncupatur ; " as we learn from Jocelin's life of Kentigern. The Pertmet of Jocelin is now Partick,
a village on the Clyde below Glasgow.
(s) Sax. Chron., p. 22 ; Usher's Prim., p. 570 ; wherein he quotes the Saxon annals, Ethelwerd
and Florence.
(0 Adamn., Life of Columba, lib. i., cap. viii., ix. ; Tigemach ; Ulst. An. ; Usher's Prim., p. 709-
1037 ; Ogygia, 475 ; Innes's MS. Eccles. Hist., p. 245.
(m) Ogygia, p. 475 ; Adamnan's Life of Columba, lib. i., cap. ix. Sasoa Chron., p. 23.
(a;) Sax. Chron., p. 24 ; Bede, lib. i., cap. 34.
248 AnACCOUNT [Bookll.— The Pictish Period.
for superiority after his death during half a century, according to the princi-
ples of the people and the practice of the age. Owen, or Hoen, at length
acquired the dangerous pre-eminence. It fell to his lot to execute the destiny
of the Irish soothsayers on Donald-breac. The restless career of the king of
Kintu'e was closed in 642 A.D. at the battle of Sraith-carmaic, by the appointed
sword of the gallant Owen (y). The merit of defending Strathcluyd against
its insidious invader does not seem to have transmitted Owen's power to his
posterity. A race of obscure reguli succeeded, whose bounty, like the gene-
rosity of Rydderech, engaged neither poet nor chronicler to transmit their
deeds to more inquisitive times (2).
As the Strathclujdensian Britons were often attacked by the Picts from the
North, by the Scoto-Irish from the westward, and by the Saxons from the
south, they had many battles to fight («). They appear to have been exposed,
in addition to those conterminous enemies, to invasions by the tribes of Ireland.
In 681 A.D. they repulsed an invasion of the Cruithne of Ulster at Machlin in
Ayrshire, where Csethasao, the son of Maoileduin, the kmg of the Cruithne,
was slain (&).
(y) Adamnan Vit. Columb., lib. iii., cap. v. ; Colgan's Triad, p. 583 : Annals of Ulster ; Uslier's
Primord, p. 712 ; and OTlaherty's Ogygia, p. 478.
(^) In 6.57 a.d. is said to have died Guiret, the king of Alcluyd. An. Ulst. This is perhaps
the Oeretic of Langhorn's catalogue of Cumbrian tings. Chron., p. 328. In 693 is said to have
died the Domnal M'Apin, of one editor of the Ulster annals, and the Daniel M'Avin of another,
the king of Alcluyd. This king is probably Deovama, the son of Owen or Huen, who slew
Donald-breac and is mentioned blunderingly by Langhom. Chron., p. 328. In 721 a.d. is
said to have died Bile M'Elpin, the king of Alcluyd. This notice shows that Elpin was a British
name. In 815 a.d. is said to have died Conan M'Euorah the king of the Britons. Conan is also a
British name. After Domnal, Langhom includes in his catalogue of Cumbrian kings Constantin,
whose son was slain by the Scottish Grig ; Herbert the brother of Constantin ; Eugene, who was con-
temporary with Athelstane, and Dunwall who was expelled by Edmund in 945 a.d. Chron. Eeg.
Angl., p. 328.
(a) The annals of Ulster mention many conflicts of the Britons without much connection or
perfect accuracy in the dates of the events. In 631 a.d. was fought the battle of Cathloen between
the king of the Cumbrian Britons and Anfrith. In the subsequent year happened the conflict of
Indris. In 710 was fought the battle of Loughcoleth, between the Scoto-Irish and the Strathcluyd
Britons, who were defeated. In 716 happened another conflict between the same combatants at the
Eock of Mionure, where the Britons were again worsted. In 779 A.D. Alcluyd is said to have been
burnt.
(h) Annals of Ulster. Yet they were again invaded by the same ambitious tribe. In a.d. 702-3,
the Cumbrian Britons fought the battle of Culinfield with those enterprizing invaders from the Ulster
shore.
Ch. 11.— The Strathchnjd Britons.'] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 249
They continued, however, in possession of their appropriate country at the
decease of Bede in 734 a.d. They sustained a conflict with the Picts in
744 (c) ; and they fought the battle of Catho with that oppressive people in
749, when they slew Talorgan, the brother of Ungus the Pictish king (cZ).
In 750, the Northumbrian Eadbert seems to have traversed Nithsdale and seized
Kyle (e). By a joint attack of the Saxons under Eadbert, and of the Picts
under Ungus, the metropolis of the opjiressed Britons, though not the castle
of Alcluyd, was taken in 756 a.d. (/) ; yet the descendants of the Roman-
ized Britons were not conquered. The series indeed of the Cumbrian reguli
was often broken by civil broils or by foreign conflicts. The chiefs never failed
to resume their power when the storm of war had passed over them ; and
the Cumbrian people remained within their ancient territories under the appro-
priate name of Walenses, though they were pressed on every side long after
the Pictish government had fallen for ever {g). They were unable, however,
to prevent considerable encroachments on their paternal domains. The Nor-
thumbrians broke in upon them on the south ; and the Cruithne from Ulster,
at length formed a lasting settlement on the south-western shore of the Cum-
brian kingdom, as we shall perceive in our progress. From the events of
their history, it is apparent that the character of the Strathcluydensian Britons
had been greatly softened by the Roman conquest. They were obviously in-
ferior to the descendants of the Un-romanized Britons, the Picts of the North ;
they were less vigorous than the Scoto-Irish who had never felt the Roman
arras ; and they were still more inferior to the Anglo-Saxons, who had risen on
the fall of the Roman power.
(c) Hoveden, p. 402.
{(J) Ulster Annals. This is tlie same battle wliioli tlie Welsh MS Chron. of the Saxons states in
750 A.D. by the several names of Maes-Tdaoc, Maes-Edaroc, or Magedaoo. Welsh Archaeology, v. ii.,
p. 391.
(e) The chronicle which is annexed to Bede states, "a.d. 750, Eadbertus Cijil, cum aliia
"regionibus suo regno addidit." Smith's Bede, p. 224,
(/) Simeon Dunelm, p. 106 ; Usher's Prim., p. 819-20.
(jf) Innes's Grit. Ess., v. i., p. 32-41 ; Whit. Manchester, v. ii., p. 92-5 ; and there are obscure
traces of the foregoing events in the Inquisitio Davidis of the year 1116. Chart, of Glasgow.
The charters of Malcolm IV. and his successor William to the bishopric of Glasgow, enforcing
the payment of tithes, are addressed, " Francis, et Anglis, Walensihus et Galweiensibus." Chart.
Glasgow.
Vol. I. K k
250 AnACCOUNT [Book U.—Thc Pictish Period.
CHAP. III.
Of the Saxons in Lothian.
A NEW people of Gothic origin arrived, from wliatever shore, within the
Ottadinian territories, at the troublous epoch of the Roman abdication. This
novel race are the earliest colonists who settled themselves among the ancient
people within the Caledonian country. But they established their settlements
so firmly ; they introduced their maxims, their usages, theii^ language, so last-
ingly ; and, in the end, settled their government and promulgated their laws
so generally within our island, that curiosity must be gratified by tracing their
origin, and instruction must be gained by pursuing their progress.
The fathers of the Goths, as they passed the Hellespont and settled near the
mouths of the Danube in the most early ages, formed one of the original na-
tions of Europe. On this event history is silent, but philology is instructive.
The Gothic language is certainly derived from a common origm with the most
ancient tongues of the European world, and hence may be traced its manifest
connections with the Greek, with the Latin, and with the Celtic (c).
Long after the European regions had been filled with inhabitants, the Goths
remained in their original settlements {cc). During the fifth century before
our common era, the Gothic people inhabited the eastern shores of the Euxine
on the south of the Danube. The were found in that position by Dariua
when he crossed the Hellespont and the Danube in pursuit of the European
Scythians {d). During the conquests of Alexander, the Gothic people still
(c) Geb. Monde Primitif. torn, ix., p. xli.-li ; Mem. Litteraires, 750, p. 62. Scliilter's Thesaurus
Antiquitatum Teutonicarum ; Wachter's Glossarium Germanicum. These vastly learned authors
demonstrate without intending it, that the Celtic and Gothic languages had a common origin ; and it
is therefore absurd to talk of the Gaelic, a Celtic language, being mixed with Gothic words.
{cc) Well's Hist. Geog., v. i., the Map prefixed to p. 109 ; Baj'er's Dissert, in Mem. Litterau-es 1750,
p. 211-259 ; Geb. Monde Prim. torn, ix., p. 49.
((/) Herodotus Melpomene ; Plin. lib. iv., ch. ix. ; Count de Buat's Hist. Ancienne des People de
I'Emope, tom. i., ch. i. — 8 ; and the Map in Rennel's Herodotus.
Ch. 111.— The Saxons in Lothian.'] OpNOETH-BRITAIN. 251
remained upon the Euxine (e) ; and their undoubted descendants continued,
as a well known people, at the late commencement of our common epoch, when
Ovid was banished to Tomi by the jealousy of Augustus. During the effluxion
of five centuries, there does not appear an event which could have contributed
to force the inhabitants on the Euxine and the Danube, in considerable bodies,
to remove westward in search of new settlements on the Ehine and the
Ocean.
When or on what occasion, or by what route the Goths with their asso-
ciates moved westward from their ancient settlements, are questions which
have not yet been answered by the united antiquaries of the European regions.
During the first ages the original colonists of Europe were conducted by the
Danube and the Rhine from the Euxine to the Ocean. In subsequent times,
the Gothic migrants may have found a different route by the Boristhenes and
the Vistula, during much more recent times from the Euxine to the Baltic {/).
The stone monuments which still remain on the shores of this northern Me-
diterranean are obviously the works of a prior people, though the Scandian
scholars suppose them to be the durable remains of the gigantic children of the
mythological Woden.
From philology we know, rather than from history, that the Angles, the
Jutes, and the Saxons, were Gothic tribes, who were indistinctly seen on the
southern shores of the Baltic soon after the Christian era (g). There elapsed
three centuries and a half of internal associations and of maritime enterprizes
before the Saxon tribes became intimately known to the Roman world. Their
incursions on the Roman boundaries were at length felt; and in 368 a.d.
Theodosius repeatedly defeated the Saxon fleets, with such superiority of
genius and efficacy of advantage, that the Gothic navies did not soon infest
the British seas. Yet the Saxon adventurers were not altogether suppressed ;
and they contributed by their various irruptions to enforce the abdication of
the Roman authority in the British island.
(e) Arrian, book i., cli. iii. ; book iv., ch. i. ; Q. Curtius, book ii.
(/) See the two Maps which are prefixed to Eennel's Geogi-aphical S3'stem of Herodotus.
(g) The fact is inferable from the notices of Gibbon, the intimation of Tacitus, and the inform-
ations of Ptolomy ; but it is from Hick's Thesaurus, Somner, and Lye's Saxon Dictionaries, Lire's
Glossariimi-Suiogothicum. and the Icelandic word-books, that we must learn how many differences and
shades of discrimination there are between the several dialects of the Gothic tongue. A comparison
of Wachter's German Glossary with Ihre's Suio-Gothic Glossary, would show clearly that in the
German tongue there is much Celtic, but in the Swedish none. Somner and Lye contain some
Celtic words ; but the topography of Orkney and Shetland, two countries which were settled by
emigrants from Scandia, exhibit none of the Celtic words that have been introduced into the Anglo-
Saxon, such as the Dun and the Tun. See Mem. Litteraires, 1750, p. 102-4, for the origin of the
Saxons.
Kk2
252 AnACCOUNT [Book JI.—The Pictish Period.
The memorable epoch of the first entrance by a Gothic people into Britain
is A.D. 449. The Angles at that troublous period arrived. They were fol-
lowed soon after by a body of their confederates, who debarked on the Forth,
within the Ottadinian country. This land, like every other district of South
and North-Britain, was then divided among many chiefs, who httle merited the
praise of Urien, the gallant prince of Reged, " that he was the prompt defen-
der of his neighbourhood {li)." At that sad epoch disunion was the evil star
of Britain. Conducted by it, the superior vigour of the Saxons universally
prevailed, though the more enervated Britons opposed them with persevering
bravery. The country of the Ottadini was rather over-run than subdued ;
and the invaders are said to have even formed settlements among them along
the Forth almost as far as the northern wall (i). The Saxons are supposed to
have soon made a peace with the Picts {h). As neither history nor tradition
speaks of any conflict between them on that occasion, we may infer that the
invader's did not direct either their attacks or their views to the northward of
the Forth. The bloody struggles of the south during a century occupied
perhaps all the energies of the Saxon invaders.
The year 547 is the epoch of the invasion of Ida, one of the most
vigorous children of the fictitious Woden {I). To his talents and successes
the Northumbrian monarchy owes its foundation at the same interesting
date. Talorg then ruled among the Picts. Gauran governed the Scoto-Irish ;
and both those reguli were protected ■ against the enmity and envy of Ida
by the intervening barrier of the Forth and Clyde. Bydderech was then
supreme in Strathcluyd. Walluain at the same time acted as the gallant
chief of the Novantes on the Solway ; and Urien, the cherisker of Bards,
the protector of Aeron, reigned meanwhile in the hearts of the Cum-
brians {m). Ida brought with him no scald that could compare with
Aneurin, or Taliesln, with Merlin, or Llywarch, who deplored in sublime
strains the misfortunes of their country from the invasions of stran-
gers (n). Such poets as the British, Europe could not in that age indeed
(h) Owen's Llywarch Hen.
(i) Nennius, cli. xxxvi. ; Gildas, cli. xsiii. The struggles of the Britons in defence of their country
against their invaders, may be seen more distinctly from a ^-iew of the Catrail and other fences of
that nature than in the obscure hints of such delusive wi-iters.
(k) Bede, lib. i., ch. xv.
(/) Saville's Chronologia ap. Scriptores post Bedam ; Flor. Wigorn., p. 218, sub A" 547.
(m) Urien was celebrated by Taliesin in several admirable odes ; Welsh Archasol. v. i.
(«) See the Gododin of Aneurin, a chieftain of the Ottadini ; Welsh Arch^oL v. i.
Cb. III.— The Saxons in Lothian.'] OfNOETH- BRITAIN. 253
supply, whether we consider their invention or energy, the flow of their ver-
sification or the copiousness of their lang'uage (o).
At Flamhorougli, Ida landed in 547 without opposition. As he seems to
have acted from a previous design he soon pointed his flaming sword to the
north. The gallant efforts of Dutigern, the chief of the Ottadini,.did not
prevent the invading foe from carrying victory with him to the Forth. It was
probably on this invasion that the battle of Cattraeth was fought, wherein
Aneurin shared the misfortunes, and by his poetry has perpetuated the re-
membrance (p).
But Ida was recalled into the south by an attack on Deira which, though
it was the seat of his authority, he had left insecure. It was Urien, " the shield
" of his country," who had hastened from Cumbria on the west to succour
his neighbourhood in Deira on the east (q). Yet the conduct and valour
of Ida extended the Saxon conquests, notwithstanding the gallantry and the
vigour of Urien {)'). The victorious career of Ida was stopped in 559 by the
vengeful sword of the valorous Owen, when the Northumbrian monarchy had
been extended along the coast from the Humber to the Forth.
The successes and the fame of Ida seem to have induced the Britons in
the west of Valentia to draw their slight ties of connection closer together.
Their associations contributed perhaps to their safety, while Aella, the suc-
cessor of Ida, turned his hostile eyes to the south. They now remained a while
quiet. But the activity and vigour of Ethelfrid decided their fate. He
defeated the Scoto-Irish Aidan at Dawstaue (s) in 603. The conqueror signal-
ized his recent triumph on the borders of the neighbouring Selgovse. The
bravest efibi-ts of their gallant chiefs could not suspend their destiny ; and the
western Britous acknowledged the superior union and energy of the Saxon
people (t).
Ethelfrid himself fell a sacrifice to civil discord in 617; when Edwin, the
most potent of the Northumbrian kings, immediately assumed his sceptre and
soon exercised his sword. History has recorded the extent of Edwin's conquests,
(o) The energetic effusions of the British Poets in that age turn almost wholly on the misfortunes
of their countr}', which involved their own. See Welsh Archa3ology, v. i.
(/)) The remembrance of this conflict is also preserved, perhaps, in that remarkable remain which
is known by the name of the Catrail, and is often mentioned by the name of Pictswork-ditch. See
before book ii., ch. ii.
{q) Whit. Manch., v. ii., p. 75. (»•) &. 75-6.
(s) Usher's Primord. 1154. For the site of Dawstane in Liddesdale, seethe Map of Roxburgh-
shire.
(<) Bede, lib. i., ch. 34 ; Mahnsbury, fo. 64 ; Whit. Manch., v. ii., p. 94.
254 AnACCOUNT [Book 11.— The Pktish Period.
and tradition has spoken of the terror of his fame. Not only the Britons and
EngHsh, the Scots and the Picts, but even the most distant islanders are said,
by the voice of panegyric, to have feared his arms and to have adored his
power (a). The metropolis of North-Britain owes its castle to his policy and
its appellation to his name. Edwins-burgh never had the honour of being a
Roman station, though a Roman road certainly passed on either side of its
remarkable site. Neither before the rise of the Roman authority nor after its
extinction does that city appear to have been a British Din or fort ; and
probability attests what circumstances confirm, that this commodious rock was
formed by a Saxon prince into a hurgh or fortification, during the Anglo-
(Saxon conflicts for a doubtful frontier (6).
The rashness of its founder, which exposed him to the sword of Penda, in-
volved his family in distress and his kingdom in anarchy. Yet the northern
frontier on the Forth seems to have remained where Edwin had placed it
during the reigns of Oswald, who succeeded Edwin in 634, and of Oswi,
who followed Oswald in 64.3, and who, having chastised the Scots and over-
run the Picts, left his rights and his warfare to Egfrid in 671 A.D. (c). At
this epoch the Northumbrian kings appear to have pushed their conqviests and
established their power from sea to sea ; and the city of Carlisle was com-
pletely theirs till it was given by Egfrid to Cuthbert in 685 a.d. {d).
The inconsiderate valour of Egfrid was crowned with unmerited success in
several enterprises. He is supposed to have vanquished the Picts in 679 (e).
He is said to have sent an expedition under Berht against the unoffending
Irish in 684, the effects of which are still remembered with indignation by
the Irish antiquaries {f) ; and in 685 he marched against the Picts in oppo-
sition to the remonstrances of his eoldermen and the foreboding of his
bishops ig). The torch enlightened his route. He probably passed the Forth
(a) Bede, 1. ii., cli. v. vi. ix. ; Malmsbury, j). 18.
(J) A full discussion of tlie origin of Edinburgli with its name will be given in the local histoiy,
wherein it will appear, after considering all circumstance, that Edinburgh is merely the burgh of
Edwin.
(c) Bede, 1. ii., cap. v., 1. iii., cap. xsiv.
(cZ) Bede's Life of Cuthbert, ch. xxvii. ; and Smith's Bede, p. 782.
(e) Eddius, vit. Wilfrid, cap. svii.
(/) Bede, 1. iv., cap. xxvi ; Flor. Wigorn, p. 254; Ogygia, p. 40, 230; Ogygia Vindicated,
h. xiii.
((/) Bede, 1. iv., cap. sxvi. ; Sax. Chron. p. 45 ; Flor. Wig. 255 ; Sim. Dunelm., p. 5. They
all agree that Egfrid marched against the Picts; it was the continuator of Nennius alone who
said that Bredei the king of the Picts slew Egfrid the Northumbrian king. Usher's Prim. 1167.
Ch. UL—The Saxons in Lothian.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 255
below Abercorn ; and he now j^lunged into the defiles of Pictavia. In his rage
he burnt Tula-Aman and Dun-OIla (h). He was now led by his imprudence
to pass the dangerous Tay into Angus. In the meantime Bredei, the Pictish
king, had summoned his warriors to oppose the approach of the adventurous foe.
The Picts hastened from every mountain and from every marsh to surround
their destructive enemy. At length the two kings met in the tug of ivar at
Nechtan's-mere, near Dun-Nechtan, the Dun-nichen of the present day (/).
And on the 20th of May 685 a.d. the Saxon army was defeated and the
Northumbrian king was slain by the valorous hand of Bredei, who did not
long survive his triumph. Few of Egfrid's army returned, says Malmsbury,
to relate his sad disaster ; the piety of Adamnan opened a grave for the restless
Egfrid in lona, the sacred cemetery of the Scots, the Picts, and the Saxons.
So complete was his overthrow that his government shrunk up to the south of
(Ji) Ulster Annals. In North-Britain there are only two Amon waters ; the Amon in Lothian, which
was then within the Saxon territories, and the Anion in Perthshire in the very heart of the Pictish
country. It was here that Tula-Amon stood, of which there is neither remain nor remembrance
except in the Ulster Annals. Dun-Olla was also in the land of the Picts, as Talorgan the son of Drastan,
was made prisoner in 733 near the fortress of Ola ; though, as we also learn from the Ulster Annals,
there was a Dun-Olla on the west coast of Lorn.
(«■) Fruitless inquiries have hitherto been made for the true site of this important battle. The
Saxon Chronicle records this defeat to have happened " be northen sae," juxta mare horeali, explains
Gibson, Chron. p. 45, benorth the Scottish sea or Forth says the context. Simeon of Dui-ham
restricts the field of battle to Nechtan's-mere, (i.e.,) Stagnimi Nevhtani, p. 5. Tigernach talks of
this conflict as " Cath Duin-Nechtan." Og3'gia Vindicated, p. 198. The Ulster Annals speak of
this disastrous field as " bellum Duin-Nechtan," and Johnstone has absurdly translated this pas-
sage the battle of Drum-^echtaTi. All circumstances thus point to the parish of Dunnichen, which
was of old called Dun-Nechtan, and which we learn from William's Charter to Arbroath, was the
scene of this great event. i)t?i-Nechtan signifies in the British speech, the fort of Nechtan, which
is obviously the ZJuzre-Nechtan of the Irish annalists ; the Du7i of the Irish language, whereof Duin
is an inflection, signifying equally a, fortress. The remains of this ancient strength may still be seen
npon an eminence on the south side of the hill of Dunnichen, which is to this day called Cashill
or Castle-hill. Stat. Account, v. i., p. 419. In the neighbourhood of Dunnichen there are several
sepulchral tumuli, some of which on being opened were found to contain human bones in rough
stone coffins. Id. The nearest hill to Dunnichen is called Dun-Sari'ou), the hill of the barrow, which
denotes the sad effects of an ancient conflict. The Nechtan s-mere of Simeon was a small lake near
the church of Dunnichen on the east, which was drained for its marie or its fuel about forty years
ago. lb. 420 ; and Ainslie's Map of Forfarshire. The chui-ch and village of " Dunnichen are
situated on the side of a hill, the ridge whereof is 700 feet above the level of the sea in the middle of
Angus, about ten miles north from the frith of Tay, and twelve miles xvest from the German ocean.
Ainslie's Map of Forfar. William the Lion's charter to the monks of Aberbrothock, calls this parish
by the name of Dun-Nechtan. This fact is decisive with regard to the Dun-Nechtan where this impor-
tant battle was fought. Chart, of Arbroath.
256 An ACCOUNT [Bookll.— The Pktish Period.
the Tweed. The Scots were freed from the terror of his name. The Strath-
ckiyd Britons resumed their ancient I'ights ; and the hmits of the Northumbrian
kincfdom never regained their former extent; nor did the power of the Northum-
brian rulers ever acquire its recent ascendancy ; though the Angles remained
within their appropriate territory without distinctly acknowledging perhaps any
particular sovereign (JS).
The leai-ned Alfrid immediately succeeded the vanquished Egfrid ; and he
was followed by the infant Osred in 705 A.D. (I). The Saxons meantime
tried in 699 to revenge then- late defeat on the Picts, but though they were
conducted by the experienced Bei'ht, they were again repulsed by Bredei the
son of Dereli (m). The Picts appear to have been induced by a recollection of
their victories, or a sense of their valour, to advance into the Northumbrian
territories during the year 710, as far as the wall of Severus ; but the Saxon
leader, Beortfryth, marched out with the Northumbrians against the invaders,
and defeated them upon the Tyne, between Haefe and Caere, in a sharp con-
flict, wherein Bredei the Pictish king was slain (n). Osred was succeeded
in the distracted government of the Northumbrians a.d. 716, by Kenred ; and
the new king was followed at the end of two wretched years by Osric, who
established the bishopric of Candida Casa in 723, and appointed Pechtwine
for its fii'st prelate (o). Ceolwulf succeeded Osric in his dangerous charge during
the year 729 ; and Ceolwulf was followed in 738, by Eadbert, whose vigour
protracted his government twenty years. After that overthrow of the Picts in
710 A.D. the Saxon inhabitants of Lothian remained a long while unmolested,
and the Pictish frontier continued many years quiet; though Eadbert is said to
have warred with the Picts in 740 a.d. vmder the able rule of Ungus {p).
On the westeini side of Valentia the encroaching Saxons displayed their power
near the shore of the Solway and on the banks of the Clyde. They carried
their arms into Kyle and Cunningham, where they fixed their settlements in the
(k) Sax. Chron., p. 45 ; Bede, 1. iv., cli. xsvi. At that epoch, Bede marks very distinctly the
boundary between the Picts and English, by the Forth, and states explicitly that Abercom on the
firth was within the English country.
(Z) Savin's Chronologia.
(ill) Sax. Chron., 49 ; Bede, lib. v., ch. xxiv.
(n) Sax. Chron., 50 ; Huntingdon, fol. 193 ; and for the place where the battle was fought, see the
map which is prefixed to Gibson's Sax. Chronicle. The Annals of Ulster state this battle to have
been fought in Campo Manan.
(o) Savill's Chronologia. Usher's Prim., 1170.
(/)) Smith's Bede, p. 224 ; Savill's Chronologia.
Ch. lll—r/ie Saxons in Lothian.] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 2.J7
year 750 under the active Eadbert (</) ; and in conjunction with the Picts,
the Northumbrians, under the same able leader, sacked Alcluyd, the ancient
seat of the Cumbrian government in 756 (r). His sceptre was successively held
by Osulf, Ethelwald, and by other feeble monarchs, but as Ethelred was
slain by the dagger of insurrection in 794, an anarchy ensued, which dis-
tracted the affairs and enfeebled the power of Northumberland during three-
and-thirty years (s). Northumberland was thenceforth governed by earls,
who tried to rule a distracted people under the sovereign authority of the
English kings. Of the Northumbrian weakness, North-Britain enjoyed the
benefit. During this calm the Cruithne of Ulster, who had made frequent
incursions on the frith of Clyde, formed at length a lasting settlement on the
coast of Galloway (t). From the distraction of their southern neighbours the
Picts enjoyed the tranquility which their gallantry merited ; the Strathcluyd
Britons derived quiet, from the insignificance which their frequent defeats had
induced ; the Scoto-Irish possessed the security which their mountains and
their friths ensured them during many years of restless, but obscure enjoy-
ment ; and the Saxons throughout Lothian, the Bernicia of that period,
remained in the meanwhile without the perturbation of civil 'or of foreign
war. Yet if we were to believe the English chroniclers, Edgar, the powerful
king of England, over- ran those countries in 828 A.D., and enforced the sub-
mission of those several nations (u). The Anglo-Saxons during the Pictish
period left everywhere within the southern districts of North-Britain indubit-
able traces of their conquests, of their settlements, and of their language, in
the Gothic names of some places on the Solway, and many between the Forth
and Tweed.
In that country which extends from the Tweed along the Frith to the
Avon, perhaps to the wall of Antonine, and which is bounded generally on
the west by the dividing heights, the Anglo-Saxons settled in some districts
of it as early as 450, and continued their devious residence within its narrow
limits to the present times, though the rule of their native princes was un-
doubtedly lost in 685, and never was completely regained. Yet the Picts,
as they had never enjoyed this fine country along the southern side of the
(q) Smith's Bede, p. 224 ; Camden, edit. 1694, p. 630.
(r) Simeon of Durham, p. 100 ; Usher's Primord, p. 819, 820.
(s) Savin's Ohronologia ; Usher's Primord, 667, 1172.
(<) Camden, in Scotia; Usher's Pi-imord, p. 666-7, 1172.
(«) Saxon Chron., p. 72 ; Florence Wigorn., p. 289. The acuteness of Turner perceived that those
pretended conquests were too extensive and too inconsistent with the general tenor of history to have
ever happened. Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons, v. i., p. 365-6.
Vol. I. L 1
258 An account [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
Forth, neither possessed nor claimed it after the fall of the Saxon power. For
the sovereio'uty of this country two nations long contended ; for its identity and
its name divers antiquaries have disputed with fiercer warfare. Had the dis-
putants explained their own terms there could have been neither contest nor
doubt about the location of the district which is called, with the inaccuracy of
the middle ages, Laudonia, Laodonia, Lodonia, Lauthian, Louthian, Lothian,
Lawdian, Lothene (x).
The origin and meaning of this name have puzzled all the antiquaries. Nei-
ther in the British nor in the Roman times had this district such a name as
Lothene, Lothian, Lodonia, or Laudonia ; and we may, from this circumstance,
infer that the appellation, in whatever form, was imposed by the Gothic people
who took possession of this country on the abdication of the Roman power.
Buchanan indeed informs us that Lothian was so named from Lothiis, a king of
the Picts. He did not inquire, it seems, whether such a king of the Picts had
ever any existence (y). A late historian translates the difficult expression Lothene
(x) For the identity and position of Lothian it is in vain to enquire of Chroniclers, who are
sometimes ignorant and inattentive, and often partial and factious, when its position may be as-
certained from records. In one of the Scottish Edgar's charters to the monks of St. Cuthbert he
granted Coldingham, "et omnes iUas terras quas habent in Lodoneo." Anderson's Independence,
App. No. 20. In other charters Edgar the king of Scots, who died in 1107, granted divers
churches, houses, and lands in the same country. lb., No. 1, 3, 4, 5. In a charter of Eobert,
the bishop of St. Andrews, dated in 1124, the church of Coldingham was regi-anted to the prior
of St. Cuthbert of Durham, "alie alique ecclesie que fuerint in Lothonie." Smith's Bade, App.
No. 20. In a charter of Arnold, the bishop of St. Andrews, 1160-61, Gospatrio, the Earl
of Merch, is called Comite de Laodonia. By the contract of marriage between Alexander 11.
and Joanna, the daughter of John, dated the 18th of June, 1221, Eymer's Foed., v. i., p. 252,
Jedworth and its pertinents, Lessudden and its pertinents, are settled on the queen, with Kyngar
and Oarel "in Scotia." Among other witnesses there are William Cumin, Com. de Buchan,
Jvsticiarius Scotia, and Walter Olifard, Justiciarius Laodonei. This record demonstrates that
Scotia and Laodonia were then distinct, as they had always been, and long continued. In the
year 1091, says the Saxon Chronicle, Gib. Ed., 197, Malcolm came out of Scotland into Lothene
in England. From this example of considering Lothene as in England, the English writers carried
up the limits of England even to Stirling. Tyrrel's Gen. Hist., v. iii., p. 63. In the curious tract
De Situ Albanice, which Innes published from the Colbertine Library, Crit. Essay, App. No. 1,
and which is supposed to have been drawn up by Giraldus Cambrensis, it is expressly said, 1118,
that the Forth, " aqua Scottorum, regna Scotorum et Anglorum dividit." There is a proverb in
Eenfrewshire, " Out of Scotland into Largs." The Clyde being the Southern boundary, in early
ages, whoever crossed the Frith and landed on the opposite shore, went out of Scotland into Largs,
as Malcolm came out of Scotland into Lothcns. For the origin and meaning of those distinctions
we must constantly refer to the events which occurred in the long period from a.d. 446 to 843,
whereof much is said in the present book.
{y) Arbuth., Ed. fo. 5. In fact the Pictish Chronicle shows that there was never a King Lothus or
Loth among the Picts.
Cliap. III. — The Saxons in Lothian.'] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 259
into the unmeaning words, " Army Province (z)," which have not any appro-
priate appUcation. But, in the Teutonic language of the German jurists,
Lot-ting, Lothing, Lodding, signified a special jurisdiction on the Marches ; a
signification that certamly apphes very appositely to the nature of a district on
a dubious frontier (o). The country extending from the confluence of the
Tweed to the Forth, and along its shore to the Avon, was called by the in-
accurate writers of the middle ages Lodoneium, or Lothien (h). It was deno-
minated by Nennius or his interpolator, Provincia Lodonesie (c). In those re-
mote times, then, did this district begin to be known as a distinct territory,
which continued for ages to be governed under a peculiar authority, whence it
derived its appropriate appellation of Lothian.
(z) Henry's Hist, of Great Britain, v. ii., p. 208.
(a) See Halteeus's Gloss. Germanicum Medii Aevi in Articulo. In tlie same manner thingstotv in
tlie Anglo-Saxon signifies judicii exercendi locus : so the tri-tliings erant tertia pars provincia. To
these appeals were made in such cases as could not be determined in the Wapentakes. Thoresby's
Leeds, p. 8.5. In Orkney the Senate or general Head Court was called in the ancient language of the
country Lawting.
(h) Camden's Brit. Ed., 1607, p. 685.
(c) Nennius Ed., 1758, ch. Ixii. Yet is it never mentioned by Bede under this appropriate name.
He distinguishes the whole range of country from the Humber to the Avon under two names, Deira
and Bernicia, the latter comprehending the Ottadinian country, as the same districts had been dis-
tinguished under the same names before by Aneurin and Nennius. See Smith's Bede, App. No. 2,
with the map annexed. The writer of the Chronicle No. 3 in Innes's Appendix from the Colbertine
Library, speaking of the frequent invasions of the country lying between the Forth and Tweed, calls
it Saxonia, as if he had been unacquainted with the name of Lothian. The Chronicler was followed
in calling this district Saxonia during a later age by Higden. Polychron, p. 210. Simeon of
Durham describes Lothene very distinctly under the year 1020 ; the Saxon Chronicler mentions the
same Lothene in 1091 ; and Florence of Worcester afterwards speaks of the same country as Provincia
Loidis. Upon the whole it is apparent that this district was scarcely known by the name of Lothene,
or Lothian, during the ninth century, but was recognized in the subsequent age by this singular name
of very obscure origin.
L12
200 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book II.— 27/c Pkii."!, Period.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Orkney and Shetland Ides.
THOSE islands which lie at no great distance on the north and north-east
of Britain became distinctly known to the learned world during the first cen-
tury (a). They were at least discovered, if they were not subdued, by the
Ronum fleet which circumnavigated the British island in Agricola's memor-
able campaign of 84 A.D. ; and even Thulfe was in that voyage descried, which
had hitherto been hid under eternal snows (6). The name of Orcades formed a
classic term during classical times. The islands and their appellation became
familiar to the Romans from their communications with the Celtic inhabitants
of Britain before the Scandinavian rovers appeared in the British seas (c).
By the British people those islands were called Ore. One of the three principal
isles of Britain which are mentioned by the Welsh triads is Ore ; and Ore is
the Orcades or Orkneys, in Davis and Pachards' Welsh Dictionaries. Orch
in the British signifies what is outward, extreme, or hordering. This term Ore
was strikingly applicable to the situation of those isles during the British
period (d). Ymjs, Enys, and Inis, are the well-known words in the British,
Cornish, and Gaelic languages for an island, hence those islands came in
(«) Plin}', 1. iv., cap. 16 ; Mela, 1. iii., cap. G.
(b) Tacituss Life of Agiicola, § x. Tacitus conceals, under eloquent expressions, his real
ignorance of tlie previous knowledge of Thule. The learned have employed much erudition
and some research to ascertain the Thule of the ancients. P3'theas of Marsailles, who lived in the
age of Aristotle, appears to have appUed that famous name to Iceland, with which he seems to
have been acquainted. The existence of Iceland came, however, to be unknown before the days
of Ptolomy : and the Egyptian geographer transferred the name of Thule to the Shetland Isles,
without knowing that the same appellation had been previously applied to the more northern
Iceland. Even D'Anville, by not attending to those intimations, has fallen into mistakes on this
subject. Gossellin's Geograph. des Grecs, p. 128 ; Gossellin's Recherchcs sur la Gc'mjraphie des
Anciens, torn, ii., p. 3, 35, 70.
(c) The name of Orcades is supposed by Claudian, who was a better poet than philologist, to be
derived from the Greek.
(d) Owen's Dictionary.
Ch. lY.—Orlncij and Shetland.'] Of N 0 E T H-B E I T A I N. 261
subsequent times to be variously denominated Orcades, Orcadia, Orchadia,
Orchades, Orkenies, Orkneys (e).
There is reason to believe that the Orkney isles were planted during
early ages by the posterity of the same people who settled Western
Europe. The stone monuments which still remain, plainly establish that
obscure truth (/) ; yet, owing probably to some physical cause, the original
people seem to have disappeared in some period of a prior date to our com-
mon era (g). During the intelligent age of Solinus those islands were
supposed to be uninhabited, and to be " only the haunt of seals and ores, and
" sea mews, clang (h)."
It was from that circumstance, perhaps, that the Orkneys derived their
modern name, Ork, or Oerck, signifying in the Danish, if we may believe
Wolf, a Desert or uninhabited place, and Oee, or Oe, or E)/, an Isle; and
hence the Ork-eys came to signify the vminhabited isles [i). Such is the name
(e) The largest of tlie Orkney isles was called Ore, as we may learn from the MS. Celtic Eemains,
V. ii., p. 234. By the Gaelic people of the neighbouring coast, the Orcades are said to have been
called Inis-Oic, or Inis-Torc. Macpherson's Fingal, p. G ; Smith's Sean Dana, p. 160.
(/) Pennant's Arctic Zoology, p. 34. " The flint heads of Arrows," says he, " flint axes,
" swords made of the bone of a whale, must be referred to the earliest inhabitants at a period in
" which these kingdoms were on a level with the natives of the new discovered south-sea-islands."
Dniidical circles of stones, he adds, the temples of primeval religion in our island, are not uncommon.
See Wallace's Description of the Orkneys, ch. iii. ; and King's Munimenta Antiqua, p. 198; and
see b. ii., ch. i., y 2. The cm-ious fact that Druid remains and stone monuments exist, and that
celts and flint-arrow-heads have been found in the Orkney islands, while none of these have ever
been discovered in the Shetland islands, evinces that the same Celtic people who colonized South
and North Britain also penetrated into the Orkney, but not into the Shetland islands ; and this fact
also shews that those several antiquities owe their origin to the Celts who early colonized the
Orkney isles alone, and not to the Scandinavians who equally colonized both the Orkney and the
Shetland Islaiids.
((/) A tradition came down to the fifteenth century that two nations which were denominated Peti
or Pajje', inhabited the Orkneys during ages before the recent arrival of the Scandinavians. Wallace's
Account of the Orkney Isles, 1700, p. 121. Scarcely any of the names of places in Shetland and
Orkney are Celtic, they are all Teutonic in the Scandinavian form. From these facts we may infer
that the original settlers had long disappeared before the epoch of the new colonization by the Scandi-
navian rovers. Scandinavia itself was in the same manner originally settled by the Celts, who were
the giants of Eudbeck.
(h) Solinus, cap. 34 ; Eichard, 1. i., cap. viii.
(0 TVolfs Danish Dictionary. In Ichthyology, indeed, Ore or Orca signify a monstrous sea-fish,
and the Latin Orca means a sort of great fish. So the name of Orkney may be possibly derived from
Ore, with the Scandinavian ey, an isle, annexed to it.
262 A N AC C 0 U N T [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
which was probably imposed by the Scandinavian adventurers of the middle
ages. From the same people the neighbom'ing islands derived undoubtedly
the various names of Zetland, Hetland, Skettland, Shetland, as they were
viewed by various persons from diflerent points {h). They were called Zett-land
by the rovers, who considered those islands as dispersed or separated lands.
They were denominated Hetland by the navigators who fixed their attention
to the heights which were seen far from the sea {().
Durins: the effluxion of two centuries those desert isles became the harbours
of the ferocious seamen of Northern Europe. In a.d. 366, the great Theodo-
sius pursued the Saxon fleet into the usual haunts of those enterprising pirates;
and, he is said in the language of panegyric, to have stained the Orkneys
with the bloody streams of Saxons slain (m).
The Orkneys were settled by the Scandinavians before the age of Columba,
who found one of their chiefs at the residence of Bredei the Pictish king, and
who sent his missionaries to illuminate the darkness of those benighted islands (n).
We may easily suppose that the Orcadian isles were thinly inhabited and little
cultivated, during a period rather of naval enterprises than of domestic in-
dustry. The adventurers, from the hope of plunder, frequently invaded the
coasts of Pictavia; but they were vigorously repulsed by Bredei the Pictish
king, who is said to have pursued them into their usual retreats amidst their
{k) Sibbald's Description of Shetland, p. 1 ; Specimen Mandtce Chorographkum, p. 2 ; "Hetlandia,
"Hietland, Vernaoule, male Schetland."
(/) Waohter's Germ. Gloss, in vo. Zetten, Spargere, Dispergere ; hence Zett-land. Hset, sig-
nifying in the Icelandic Altitudo. Andreas's Dictionary ; Hicks's Thesaurus. Hat in the old
German signified altus, excehus. Wachter. Hence Hcvt-land, the high or lofty land. The
mountains and headlands of Shetland naturally suggested this etymological notion to a
naval people ; at the southern end of the main island there are Fitfiell-head, signifying the white
mountain, and the Sumberg-head, from the Scandinavian herg, a hill ; and at the north end
there is a high mountain named Eonas-hill, with a continued chain of hills rimning between the
two.
{m) In celebrating the victory of Theodosius, Claudian remarks, among other topics of poetic
praise,
" Maduenint Saxone fusio
" Orcades ; inoaluit Pictorum Sanguine Thule,
" Scotorum Cumulus flevit glacialis lerne."
(n) Adamnan's Life of Columba, lib. ii., cap. xl. xlii. ; Innes's MS. Eccles. Hist., § 52. Bredei, the
son of Mailcon, reigned from a.d. 556 to 586.
Ch. lY.— Orkney and Shetland.'] OpNORTH-BRITAIN. 2G3
islets and slioals (o). During the additional lapse of two centuries they un-
doubtedly received many congenial colonists, who were driven into exile by
the frequent perturbations of their common country. The Scandinavian settlers
of the Orkneys probably yielded little subjection to any sovereign, and paid
stUl less obedience to any government, while the sea-kings reigned over
the German ocean and domineered over the Hebude isles during many a
wretched age (p),
(o) Tigemacli ; and the Ulster Annals under the year 681. Bridei, the son of Beli, reigned from
674 to 695 A.D.
(jd) Torfaeus Orcades, ch. ii.
264 AnACCOUNT [Book U.—The Pktish Period.
CHAP. V.
Of the Western Isles or Hebrides.
THE stone monuments, which still exhibit in those Isles specimens of the
labour and genius of the first ages, attest the Hebrides to have been planted
by the same Celtic people who settled South and North-Britain (a). The
same Druid temples, the same cairns, the same cromlechs, evince that the
same people erected the same monuments in the same age. The maritime
people who engaged in predatory expeditions to those islands during subse-
quent times, had neither leisure for such peaceful labours nor inclination
for such lasting memorials.
The western isles were known to the Roman geographers during the first
century by the name of the Haebudes (6). This appellation, the etymology
of which has defied conjecture, has been converted in modern times into
Hebrides by the blunder of transcription or the error of typography. Those
isles were seen rather than explored by the Roman fleet which circumnavi-
gated the British island in A.D. 84 by the command of Agricola ; and they
afterwards had the honour to be described by Ptolomy from the local informa-
tions of the Roman oflScers.
During the period of the Roman government in Britain the Hebudes were
governed, like Caledonia, by many petty cheftains, who were connected only
by the slight ties of a common religion and language, and of similar customs
and habits ; but they owed no subjection to a supei'ior, and scarcely acknow-
ledged the connection arising from the same language, the same religion, and
the same usages, which pointed to a common origin without allowing a com-
mon government. Yet the descendants of the original colonists could have
(«) See before, book ii., ch. i. ; Martin's Western Isles, p. 8, 9-220 ; Pennant's Tour to tlie
Hebrides, p. 180-357 ; Munimenta Antiqua, p. 145, 147, 245 ; Mona Antiqua, p. 84-94 ; Borlase's
Cornwall, 205-231; Gongh's Camden, v. iii., p. 174-190; Arcbaeol., v. vli., p. 107 ; lb., v. vi.,
p. 113-14.
(i) Mela, lib. iii., cap. vi., calls them Haemodal ; Pliny, lib. iv„ c. xvi. ; Ptolomy edit. Bertius,
p. 34.
Chap. Y.—Th& Hebrides.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 265
been only few at the epoch of the abdication of the Roman government,
owing to the barrenness of the soil, the infelicity of the climate, and the want of
commerce (c) ; and they became the prey during several ages of every pre-
datory tribe who navigated those seas either in quest of plunder or in search
of settlements.
In giving an account of the second colonization of the Hebrides, which was
made from opposite shores by different lineages of men, it is necessary for
the purpose of distinctness to consider those isles mider their natural divisions,
in two separate ranges, the interior and exterior Hebrides. Without such
distinctions archaeology tries in vain to illustrate their obscurities.
1. The interior range of the Hebrides stretches along the western shore of
North-Britain, from Islay on the south to Skye on the north ; comprehend-
ing the intermediate islands of Mull, Jura, Colonsay, Lismore, Tiree, Coll,
Egg, Muck, Canay, Rasay, with a number of adjacent islets, and with this
division may be classed the islands of Bute, Arran, and the Cumbrays within
the Frith of Clyde.
2. The exterior range of the Hebrides, which lies much farther out in the
western ocean, consists of the Lewis, Harris, North-Uist, South-Uist, Barray,
Watersay, and of a number of adjacent islets, forming a continued chain from
north to south of one hundred and forty miles.
During the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth centuries, the interior Hebrides
were settled by Gaelic colonists, many of whom migrated directly from Ireland,
and still more from the Irish settlements in Argyle. loia, one of the islets of
this range, was given to Columba by his relation Conal, the Scottish king, as
a secure retreat whence he could send out his missionaries to propagate the
Christian faith. The zealous Columbans soon established in those islands
many cells ; and in the progress of proselytism they extended their missions
and diSused their instruction throughout the wide extent of the Hebrides (d),
(c) The small number of the names of places in the Hebrides which can be traced to the
British language, shows the paucity of the first people at the arrival of the second colonists.
There is, however, so much sameness in the British and Gaelic languages, that several names of
places which now appear in the Scoto-Irish form, may have been originally applied bj' the first
British colonists.
(d) In every one of the Hebride isles, the churches and chapels were much more numerous
in former times than they have been since the Eefonnation. In some of the parishes of the
present day there were formerly more than twelve or fifteen churches or chapels for public
worship. In Harris, the walls of twelve churches are standing, and there are the ruins and names
of some others. Stat. Acco. v. s., p. 376. In the parish of Tiree and Coll, there are the re-
mains of fifteen chapels, at some of which there are stUl crosses and cemeteries. lb. p. 401.
Vol. I. M m
266 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book U.—Tke Pictish Period.
At the end of the eighth and dui'Lag the ninth century the Hebrides were
frequently invaded by the Norwegian pirates, who sometimes sought for settle-
ment, but oftener prowled for prey. The same Scandinavian race who settled
in the Orkney islands and on the coast of Caithness extended their settlements
in the ninth century to the exterior Hebrides, where they found but few of the
first colonists to resist their intrusion. A subsequent body of their country-
men followed their tracks, and succeeded in forming settlements on the coast
of Sutherland and around the shores of the interior Hebrides where they tried
to give stability to their settlements and to overawe the Gaelic inhabitants by
building Burgs or forts of stone (e). The topography and the antiquities of
Blaeu's Maps, No. 42 to 48, confirm the same position. All the old churches in the Hebrides,
except some of those in Lewis and Harris, which forai the northern part of the exterior Hebrides,
were dedicated to the same pati'on saints as those of Argyle and other parts of Scotland where
the Scoto-Irish settled. Among these may be noticed St. Columba, Brigid, Ciaran, Adamnan,
Patrick, Bar, Brandan, Ohattan, Martin, Caoinach, or Kenneth, &c. ; even in Lewis and Harris,
some of the churches were dedicated to the Scoto-L-ish saints, as Columba, Brigid, Ciaran, Donan, or
Adamnan. Martin's W. Isles, p. 27 ; Stat. Acco., v. x., p. 377. The other chuiches in those islands
were chiefly dedicated to the saints in the kalender of the church of Eome. Id. The churches
throughout the Hebrides, except those of Lewis, and some in Harris, were named in the G-aelic
manner from the Celtic Cil, siguifying a cell, a chapel, or church ; which Cil was prefixed to the
name of the patron saint. For the numerous names of the ancient churches and chapels in the
Hebrides, see the Maps in Blaeu's Atlas, 1662, from 42 to 48 ; Langland's Map of Argyleshire ; and
the Topographical Dictionary, under Kil.
(e) The ruins of many of those forts still remain around the coasts of the Hebrides. They
were called by the Scandinavian people Burgs ; by the Scoto-Irish people they are named
Duns; and Dun in the Gaelic is synonymous to the Scandinavian Burg. There is a remarkable
difference between the few Scandinavian names on the shores of the interior Hebrides and those
in the exterior Hebrides and the Orkney islands which deserves attention, as it throws a strong
light on the diversity of their settlements. The most numerous class of names in these islands
are, as in all other countries, compounded of those words which, in the language of the colonists,
signify a dwelling-place, a habitation, or settlement. The Scandinavian Buster, and Busta, which
signify a dwelling-place ; Ster, a station, or place ; and Seatur, a seat or settlement ; appear in a
great number of the names within the Orkney and Shetland islands, and in several names on
the coast of Caithness ; and we also find the same terms in the Scandinavian names within the ex-
terior Hebrides, though they have been somewhat disguised by a Gaelic pronounciation. But
not one of those common terms is to be found in the Scandinavian names on the shores of the
interior Hebrides, nor in those on the coast of Sutherland. In the interior Hebrides, and m Su-
therland, most of the Scandinavian names terminate in bol, which in that language signifies a
habitation, or dwelling-place ; as in Ski-io/, Bm-bol, Skel-JoZ, Tor-6o^, Kirka-SoZ, Aina-bol, and
Eri-ioZ, in Sutherland ; Kirka-ioZ, Cross-6o/, Hyle-bol, Barra-io?, in Tiree-island ; Gris-io/, in
CoU-island ; Hara-Jo/, Ella-io/, Eyre-ioZ, Lyie-bol, in Islay. These facts evince that the scat-
tered settlements of the northmen on the coasts of Sutherland and the interior Hebrides were
Ch. Y.—The Hebrides.] OpNOETH-BRITAIN. ■2r,7
the Hebrides, when judiciously investigated, greatly help the scanty notices of
history in tracing those obscure events during such barbarous times. The
gi-eat body of the names of places in the Hebrides are Gaelic, many of them
are Scandinavian, and a number of them are pleonastic compounds of both those
languages. In the interior range of the Hebrides the names of places are
nearly all Gaelic, there being only a few Scandinavian names around the coasts
of these islands. This fact shows that this division of the Hebrides was colo-
nized wholly by the Irish and the Scoto-Irish before the Scandinavian rovers
broke in upon them during the ninth century ; and it also shows that the
Scandinavian people only made a few settlements upon the shores of the interior
range. In the exterior Hebrides the greatest number of the names of places
are Scandinavian, a large proportion of them are Gaelic, and many of them
are pleonasms, which were formed by prefixing Gaelic epithets to the Scandi-
navian appellations. In this division of the Hebride isles the Scandinavian names
are not confined to the coasts, but are spread over the interior of each island,
and are even applied to mountains and to waters. These facts demonstrate that
the Scandinavian settlers preceded the Scoto-Ii'ish in those distant islands, and
found few of the first colonists who could hand down their traditions or trans-
mit their topography, as the Scandinavian settlers new-named almost all the
hills, the waters, and other great features of nature {/).
made by different settlers wlio spoke a somewhat different dialect of the Scandinavian tongue
from their countrymen, who had previously settled in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and on
the coast of Caithness, and within the exterior Hebrides. Thus does topography give her instruc-
tive intimations to history for illustrating the obscurities of colonization, and settling the doubts
of etymology.
(,/') For those instructive truths as to the names of places, see the several Maps of the Hebrides
in Blaeu's Atlas Scotiae, Ainslie's Map of Scotland, M'Kenzie's Charts of the Lewis and of the
West Coast, with Langland's Map of Argyleshire ; and above all, see the Topogi-aphical Dictionary,
wherein the names of places will be found more correct and more copious than they are in any
of those Maps. For this correctness the public owe a favour, and I an obligation, to several of
the intelligent ministers in the Hebride Isles, who communicated to me much useful suggestion,
and many valuable emendations.
Mm 2
268 AnACCOUNT [Book ll.—The Pictish Period.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Scots.
THE obscurity in which the origin of the Scottish people has always been
involved gave rise to the most absurd theories, and produced among polemics
the most obstinate disputes ; their theories originated, like other systems, from
inattention to facts ; their disputes arose, like other conflicts of greater moment,
from national competition ; and these contests were continued, like other literary
altercations, by controversial obstinacy.
Whether the Scots were natives in Britain or were emigrants from Ireland
are questions which were long contested by the antiquarian zealots of two
spirited nations. That the Scots were emigrants from Ireland is now cei'tain,
however prejudice may have tried to obscure the truth ; and the distant oiigin
of the Scots within the sacred isle is at present the only inquiry on this
head which can engage a rational curiosity. Such is the difiiculty of this dis-
quisition, arising chiefly from the contradictoriness of previous opinions, that
perhaps the truth can best be obtained by carrying our searches backward
from subsequent certainty to previous uncertainty.
Before the year 400, the Scots had become so pre-eminent in Ireland that
they gave their own name to the whole country, if we may credit Orosius, who
flourished as an intelligent writer at the interesting commencement of the fifth
century (a). Claudian, his poetical contemporary, fully concurs with him when
he says in more elegant language :
" Totum cum Scotus Hibernem — movit ;
" Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis lerne."
" When the Scots all Ireland — mov'd ;
" O'er lieaps of Scots, -whom icy Ireland wept."
(a) See the edition of Alfred and Barrington. Igbeniia, which we call Scotland, saj'S he, b. i.,
ch. i., is surrounded on every side by the ocean.
Ch. TL.—The Scut.<.'] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 269
It is a fact, then, that the Scots were the ruling people of Ireland at the con-
clusion of the fourth century ; and we have seen the Scots invade Romanized
Britain in 360 a.d., when they were repelled by Theodosius, as we learn
from Ammianus Marcellinus (6). Curious erudition indeed has employed its
research to investigate when the Scots were first mentioned in the intelligent
pages of classic authors. Camden has the merit of having discovei-ed that
Porphyry, who flourished under Dioclesian at the close of the thhd century,
first mentioned the ScoticcB gentes, the Scottish nations of the Britannic world (c).
Eumenius, who first mentioned the Picts, and who was the contemporary of Por-
phyry, mentions the Hibenii and the Ilibermeaaes without noticing the ScoticcB
gentes. But Porphyry was a scholar and a geographer, while Eumenius was
mei'ely a scholar and an orator. It is obvious, then, that the Scots first began
to appear to intelligent eyes towards the conclusion of the third century.
When Ptolomy was inquiring about the nations of the earth during the second
century, he heard nothing of the Scots (d). All former writers who speak of
the two British islands, J. Ceesar, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Mela, Tacitus,
Pliny, Solinus, mention nothing of the Scots, though they severally speak of
the Irish tribes ; and we may therefore consider it as a moral certainty that
the Scottish people had not acquired their appropriate name during the first
and second centuries.
It is now time to inquire of what lineage and of what country were the
objects of this disquisition. The lineage of every people is most accurately
traced in their language. The Scoto-Irish even now speak Gaelic; their pro-
(i) I do not coucui' witli tliose writers who speak of permanent settleraents of Irish-Scots in
Scotland during Eoman times. They certainly invaded the Eoman province on the west, but
they were continually repulsed by the decided superiority of the Eoman arms. It was this cir-
cumstance which induced those writers to speak of Scottish settlements in North-Britain, and
Scottish migrants to Ireland, in those early ages. From all my enquiries, it appears to me that no
permanent colonization of North-Britain by the Scoto-Irish people began till the recent period of the
sixth century.
{c) Holland, p. 125 ; Gough's Camden, v. i., p. 98. Humphry Lhuyd, the Welsh antiquary, having
intimated that the Scots were first mentioned under Constantine, was attacked by Buchanan with
every asperity of reproach ; but Buchanan did not himself pretend to show when the Scots were first
known to the learned world. On this occasion Camden was induced to travel out of the common
track of classic reading for the fact. Usher concurs with Camden. Prim. p. 728. Bollandus and
Tillemont agree in saying that the Scots were not known as the Irish till the beginning of the fourth
century. Tillemont's Mem. Eccles., torn, xvi., p. 453.
(d) See Bertius's edition of Ptolomy ; nor is there a word in his Map of Ireland which looks like
Scoti. See Geographia Antiqua et Nova. Tab. ii., Insularum Britannicarum Fades Antiqua; nor
does the copious index to this (jeograj>hia mention a syllable of the Scoticce gentes. Eichard's Map of
Hibernia does mention the Scotti, long after they had been recognized by geographers.
270 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book II.— The Pi'ctish Period.
genitors in Ireland always spoke Gaelic, the same Gaelic which we see in
the Irish word-books of every age ; and the Scoticce gentes were therefore a
Gaelic people. The Scots never spoke Teutonic, and they were not there-
fore a Gothic people who spoke the Teutonic and not the Gaelic (e). The
country of the Scots, as they were themselves Gaelic, must necessarily have
been Gaelic.
This intimation points to Ireland, the western land, where the Scoticw gentes
or Scots were first found by those intelligent writers who take the most early
notice of them in the fourth and third centuries ; in those eventful times when
the Scots moved all Ireland to enterprise, and when Irene wept the slaughter
of her sons. From the foregoing proofs, it is a moi-al certainty of great import-
ance in Irish history, that Ireland, at the epoch of the introduction of Christi-
anity into that island, was inhabited by the Scots, a Gaelic people, who spoke
the same Gaelic language which we may see in the Gaelic scrii?tures. We are,
indeed, informed by contemporary writers, that the Roman missionaries who
produced that great change were sent to the Scots in Ireland (/).
It is also a moral certainty, as we have seen, that Ireland was originally
settled by Gaelic tribes from the neighbouring coasts of Britain during the first
ages {g). Of Ireland I will say, after every endeavour to illustrate her anti-
(e) It is not wonderful, because it is so common, to hear men, learned and intelligent, speak
nonsense witliout knowing that they speak nonsensically. How many writers are there who in-
form us that the Soots were Scythians from Scandinavia or Germany, though the same writers knew
that the Scots spoke Gaelic, and not Gothic. What is this but to reason absurdly, by applying
contradictory qualities to the same persons!
(/) Usher's Prim., p. 802 and 1043; Lloyd's Church Government, p. 7, 50-2, with the authori-
ties which they quote. Prosper, indeed, when speaking on this subject, calls Ireland the barbarous
island, in contradistinction to the Romanized isle of Britain. Id. Add to those proofs the
following testimonies, that Ireland was known to the intelligent world dui'ing the middle ages as
the native land of the Scots. Pope Honorius I., who died in 683 A.D., in writing to the Irish
Church on the proper observance of Easter, addressed his epistle, "ad Scotorum gentem." Bede,
lib. ii., ch. xix. And John IV., his successor, addressed a similar letter to the Irish bishops,
presbyters, and abbots, by the appropriate name of Scoti. Id. ; Flor. Wig. ; Wilk. Concilia, v. i.,
p. 36. And Lawrence, the Archbishop of Canterbury, addressed an epistle about the year 614,
" ad Scotos Hibernias incolas." Usher's Vetemm Epistolarum Hibernicanim SyUoge, p. 18-22.
Asser, in his Life of Alfred, says, "891 a.d. Tres Scoti ad .3lllfredum ab Hibernia Veniunt."
Add to all those authorities the decision of the erudite Scheopflin, in his Conniientationes Ilistoricce,
cap. iii. : De Scoto-Hibernia. Bede considers Ireland as the land of the Scots ; but he settles them
in Cantyre before the epoch of Christ. Lib. i. cap. i. Adamnan, who died in 703 a.d., mentions, in
his Life of Columba, that the sacred object of his early biography sailed from Scotia to Britain, and
to Hyona, and from thence went back to Scotia.
(jj) See book i., ch. i.
Ch. YL.—ne Scot^q Of NORTH-BKIT AIN. 271
quities has failed, what Diodorus Siculus said of Britain, that she anciently
remained free from foreign force, and untouched either by Bacchus or Hercules,
or any other heroes. Long after Britain had passed under the yokes of the
Romans and the Saxons, Ireland continued unconquered by any foi'eign power,
unmixed with any alien people, uncontaminated by any new manners, and un-
perplexed by any heterogeneous speech. As Greece and Rome and Scythia
have their heroical histories and mythological personages, Ireland may well have
her milesian tales, which have their antiquity to amuse and their sense to in-
struct, rather than the Gothic system of late times, that is founded in self-con-
ceit and is disgraced by nonsense.
Yet the Scots, who are not mentioned in classic authors before the days of
Claudian and of Porphyry, seem to have given their obscure name to the peo-
ple, and acquired the chief sway in Ireland, before the conclusion of the third
century. As there is no proof, whatever chroniclers may say and theorists may
dreara, that the Scots came from abroad, the Scoticce gentes must have acquired
within. their original island, a local habitation and a name. As the inhabitants
of Ireland ai'e indiscriminately called by classic writers Hyberni and Scoti after
the fourth century, we may infer that the Hyberni and Scoti were the
same peojile under different designations ; and Camden intimates, after many
conjectures, that the Scots were merely the descendants of those Britons who
of old inhabited Ireland, as Diodorus Siculus informed the world when Ire-
land became first noticed as a British isle (/i). As the Scots were indigenous
in Ireland, so was probably their name ; and from their own language they
acquired the appellation of Sceite, Avhich signifies, in the Irish, dispersed and
scattered ; and they thus appear to have obtained this characteristic name from
their passion for enterprize during ages of perturbation (i). The Scots were
originally noticed by the Roman government as a maritime people who in-
fested, by their frequent incursions, the western shores of R.omanized Britain ;
and the country of the Scots was therefore different from Britain. Ancient
Scotland was undoubtedly an island, whatever theorists may have thought ;
and ancient Scotland was certainly not a distinct island from Ireland, whatever
chroniclers may have said (Jc).
(/() Holland's Camden, p. 124.
(t) O'Brien's Diet. Ammianus Marcellinus in speaking lib. xsvii. of this people, intimates
their qualities when he says, " Scoti per diversi vagantes ; " and see the Genuine History of the
Britons throughout; this erudite writer proves (1) that the Scots came neither from Scythia,
nor Spain, and (2) that they derived their appropriate name from their acquired quality of
roving.
(k) The following document, which was drawn up by the accurate pen of Camden, and may be seen
272 ■ A N A C C 0 U N T [Book 11.— The Pktish Period.
The nearest coasts of Britain supplied the sister isle with colonists in succes-
sive ages and on various occasions. In the progress of settlement and in the
improvement of society the various settlers, when association became necessary,
formed themselves into a community by the different names of Sceite, Scots,
and Scoti ; and hence the island of the western ocean became known to the
intelligent world, at the end of the third century, as the native country of the
among his epistles, ed. 1691, p. 360, furnishes historical demonstrations of the three conclusive points
in the text :
" Primum punctum ; Antiquam Scotiam fuisse insulam :
" 1. Scotia proxima Britannise insula. S. Isidorus, lib. xii. cap. vi.
" 2. Scotia quae terris nihil debet. Hegesippus, lib. v. cap. xv.
" 3. Scotia fertilis sanctorum insula. Surius 13 Nov. & 8 Mali. Item Molanus 8 Mail.
" 4. De Scotorum insula venientes. Beda in Martyrologio 13 Nov.
'• 5. Tota insula Scotiae mirabatur. Theodoricus apud Surium 1 Julii. tom. vii.
" Secundum punctum ; Antiquam Scotiam a Britannia fuisse discretam :
" 1. Scoticse gentis de Britannorum vicina. Hieronymus in 3 procem. in Hieremiam.
" 2. De Scotia venlt in Britanniam. Beda in Appendice ad Historiam.
" 3. Scotensis exercitus frequenter transnavigans' in Britanniam. Vita S. Patricii in Collegio
Duaceno MS.
" 4. Britannia Oceani insula, cui adjacet Scotia. Hucbaldus apud Surium. 12 Nov.
" 5. Alter pene orbis Britannia cum adjacente Scotia. Theodoricus apud Surium tom. vii.
Julii i.
Tertium punctum ; Antiquam Scotiam non diversam ab Ibernia ;
" 1. Scotia eadem & Ibernia. S. Isidorus lib. xii. cap. vi.
" 2. Ibernia a Scotoram gentibus habitatur. S. Orosius hb. i. p. 20.
" 3. Britannise adjacet Scotia seu Ibernia. Hucbaldus apud Surium 12 Nov.
" 4. Ibernia propria est Scotorum patria. Vita S. Columb^ in Legendario Anglicano.
" 5. Ibernia propria Scotorum est patria. Beda in Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. i. cap. i.
" 6. Scotoram qui Ibemiam insulam Britanniae proximam incolunt. Beda loco cit. lib. ii.
cap. iv.
" 7. Scotorum oumulos flevit glacialis Iberna. ~\
"8. totam cum Scotus Ibernam V Claudianus,
'• Movit, & infesto spumavit remige Tethis.J
" 9. De Ibernia Scotorum insula venientes. Beda 13 Novemb.
" 10. Scotia, quae & Ibernia dicitur. Surius ad eundem diem.
" 11. Scotia, quae tunc erat Ibernia. Bozius de Anno 434 in signis Ecclesiae lib. viii. cap. i.
" 12. Scotus de Ibernia insula natus, Marianus ad annum 657. de S. Kiliano.
" 13. Ibemiam Scotorum gens incolit. Jonas in Vita S. Oolumbani.
" 14. Iberniam Scotorum insulam. Aimoinus lib. iv. cap. 100. & Eginardus in gestis Caroli
magni.
" 15. Euntes in Scotiam intrent purgatorium S. Partricii. Caosarius lib. xii, cap. xxxviii.
" 16. Ibernia partita in Sootos (Septentrionales & Australes) Beda, lib. iii. cap. iv.
Ch.Yl.—TIie Scots.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 273
Scots, and in after ages by the name of Scotland (Z). The same appellation
was transferred from Ireland to Scotland when both had lost their original
designations amid the successive changes of unstable times.
Amidst the turbulence of rude ages, the Irish were seldom at rest. They
were either occupied in maiitime excursions against the Romanized shores of
the British island, or they were agitated by domestic feuds. The northern
division of Ireland, which was called by the Irish Ulladh, and by the English
Ulsfer, was particularly subject to such perturbations, owing to the pretensions
of two powerful tribes. The race of the Irish, who were long known and
feared by the name of Cruithne, were the most powerful clan of the north-
western district of Ireland. The frequent disputes of those rival tribes at leno-th
called for the interposition of the Irish sovereign at the middle of the third
century. Cormac then reigned supreme king of Ireland. In this war, Cairbre-
Biada, the cousin and general of Cormac, conquered a territory of thirty
miles extent in the north-east corner of Ireland, which at that disasti'ous
epoch was enjoyed by the Cruithne (a). This territory was now seized by
Cairbre-Ptiada and his followers in the right of conquest and by the favour
of Cormac, when it was denominated from the conquerer DrtZ-Riada, the
portion of Riada. Over Dalriada Carbi-e and his posterity continued to rule
for ages, under the constant protection of their relations, the sovereigns of
Ireland (6). This conquest of Dalriada, at the middle of the second century
by Cairbre, sowed the seeds of many disputes, which grew up into bloody
(/) See Wtitaker's Genuine Hist, of tlie Britons, p. 283-88; Innes's Crit. Ess., vol. i., p. 167-
203 ; vol. ii., p. 401-545. The Milesian origin of the ancient Irish is now scarcely believed
by Milesian fablers. The direct colonization of Ireland from the east is hardly credited by scholars
■who know that emigrations were made in early ages by land and not by sea. The Gothic origin
of the old Irish is asserted by those who never inquired whether the Irish had ever spoken the
Gothic tongue, or whether the names of places in the map of Ireland be significant in the Gothic
language. In the midst of the conjectures of ignorance and the scepticism of learning, it is curious
to remark that the great .3l31fred appears to have been the first who wrote the word Scotland, and
applied the Anglo-Saxon term as the name of Ireland : " On thaem ilcan wendel sse on fiyre westende
"is Scotland;" in this same Meditewanean to the westward is Scotland, Alfred's translation of
Orosius, p. 14, and the translation by Daines Barrington, p. 3. Thus two Celtic communities were
destined by a singular fortune to derive a lasting name from an Anglo-Saxon Prince in the Teutonic
language 1
(ci) Cairbre-Eiada was one of the sons of Conary II., who ruled as chief king in Ireland from 212
to 220 A.D., and who was descended, according to the Irish genealogies, from the great Conary that
fell by the stroke of assassination in (10 a.d. Usher's Prim., p. 610-11 ; Camden in Scotia; O'Connor's
Dissertation, p. 192-3, 202 ; Ogygia Vindicated, p. 164-5.
(i) O'Flaherty's Ogygia ; Ogygia Vindicated, p. 163, 164-5 ; O'Connor's Dissertation, p.
196-7.
Vol. I. N n
274 An ACCOUNT [Bookll.— The Pictish Period.
conflicts between the Cruithne of Ulladh and the Dalriadse of Ireland, as well
as then- descendants, the Dalriadse of North-Britain.
In the prevalence of contest and the progress of population, a colony was
conducted from Dalriada to North-Britain at the recent commencement of the
sixth century, by Loarn, Fergus, and Angus, the three sons of Erc, the
descendant of Cairhre-Rlada. These colonists not only brought with them their
language and religion, their manners and customs, but their subordination and
allegiance to the country whence they had voluntarily proceeded (c). At that
remarkable epoch in the Scottish history, Lugad the son of Laogar reigned
supreme over Ireland.
The Irish colonists departed from Dalriada, which was thus occupied by the
descendants of Cairbre-Riada, and was governed by Olchu, the brother of
Erc [d) ; and the Irish colonists settled in the ancient countiy of the British
Epidii, near the Epidian promontory of Richard and Ptolomy, which was
denominated by the Dalriadinian colonists, Ceantir, or head-land (e). The ejaoch
of their settlement is 503 a.d. {/) ; and the new settlers continued to the age
of Bede to be commonly called from their original district, the Dalriadini,
though they will be herein denominated the Scoto-Irish, with a retrospect to
their origin and a regard to their colonization,
(c) Usher's Prim., p. 947, 1029 ; Tigemaola ; Ulster Annals ; OTlaherty's Ogygia, p. 470 ; Innes's
Orit. Essa}', p. 693. O'Conner intimates that the sons of Erc were favoured in their emigra-
tion by the Hy-Nial, or the supreme power which was then exercised by Lugad the son of Laogar,
the grandson of Niel the great, and the sovereign of Ireland from 483 to 508 a.d. Ogygia Vindi-
cated, p. 92, in the note. This connection between the Dalriadic race and the royal family of
teland was again doubl}' cemented by the maniages of Erca, the daughter of Loarn, in succession
with the two grandsons of Niel, who is called the great by the appropriate eloquence of the Lish
annalists.
(d) Ei'c, who was the son of Eocha-Munramhar, and a lineal descendant of Cairbre-Eiada,
died in 474 a.d., and in conformity to the Irish law of Tanaistry, his only brother Olchu
succeeded him in the government of the Dalriadae in Ireland. The posterity of Olchu continued to
rule this tribe in subordination to the supreme kings of Ireland after the sons of Erc had estabhshed
their settlements in Argyle. Usher's Primord. ; The Book of Leacan ; Kennedy's Dissert, on the
Stuarts, p. 145.
(e) In the Q-aelic Cean, of which Ciii is an inflection, signifies a head, and Tir, land, so Cean-tir,
is hterally head-land ; yet this significant appellation of the Irish colonists is said to be Gothic.
Enquiry Hist. Scot., 1789. The analagous term in the Gothic is Hwfde-lande. The Enquirer
might with equal truth have said that the Gothic Hcefde-lande and the English headland are Celtic
words.
(/) Tigernach ; Usher's Prim., 947, 1122; Innes's Critical Essay, v. ii., p. 689, 694; Kennedy's
Dissert, on the Stuarts, p. 146, 169. O'Connor confirms the fact, by saying wildly that Ai-gyle, Alban,
and the Hebrides were conquered by the sons of Erc in 503 a.d. Dissert, p. 198-9.
Ch. Nl.—The Scots.\ OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 275
It lias been reasonably asked, whether the sons of £rc made their settlements
by foi-ce or favour. This inquiry sup^^oses that tradition is silent upon the
point, and that history is also uninstructive (g) ; and the unsatisfactoriness of
the one, and the silence of the other, lead us to suppose that the Dalriadini
settled without offence, and remained in their new settlements for years
without opposition. Cean-tir, as the name implies in the speech of the Scoto-
Irish colonists, is a head-land, which, forming a very narrow peninsula, runs
far into the Deucaledonian sea towards the nearest coast of Ireland, and is
separated by lofty mountains from the Caledonian continent. It was in that
age very thinly inhabited by the Cambro-Britons ; and these descendants of
the Epidii were little connected with the central clans ; and were still less con-
sidered by the Pictish government, which perhaps was not yet sufficiently
refined to be very jealous of its rights, or to be promptly resentful of its
r • wrongs. Drest-Garthinmoth then reigned over the Picts, and certainly re-
sided at a great distance, beyond Drum-Alban. To those intimations we may
subjoin, that Loarn, Fergus, and Angus bi'ought few followers with them ;
(and though they were doubtless joined by subsequent colonists, they were for
I some time occupied with the necessary but uninteresting labours of settle-
ment within their appropriate districts. Ceantir was the portion of Fergus,
Loarn possessed Loarn, to which he gave his name, and Angus is supposed to
have colonized Islay (h). They obviously established their several settlements
according to the anarchical cust»rhs of their original country. Each of those
princes with their followers formed a distinct tribe, which was nearly inde-
pendent of each other, with a nominal subordination to the eldest, at least when
obedience could be compelled by power. The history of those Scoto-Irish
colonists will evince that, by acting on this notion of anarchy during a rude
age, their descendants were frequently involved in the contests of disputed
successions, and often in the miseries of civil war.
In the records of time there scarcely occurs a period of history which is so
perplexed and obscure as the annals of the Scoto-Irish kings and their tribes,
(ij) The Gaelic poem, or duan, as translated by OTlalierty, makes tlie sons of Ere subdue
Alban with a strong hand. Ogygia Vindicated, p. 144. O'Connor, as we have seen, concurs in
the notion of conquest. Dissert., p. 188-9. The poetical notion of conquest cannot possibly be
true ; and probability and fact only justify the more reasonable position of quiet colonisation.
Bede adds the confirmation of his judgment to the simple notion of quiet settlement. Bede, lib. i.
cap. i.
(/t) Dr. Smith's Hist. Dissert, in Stat. Account, v. s., p. 521 ; Islay was certainly enjoyed by Muredach
I the son of Angus after his decease.
Nn2
27G AnACCOUNT [Book H.—The PictUh Period.
from tlieir settlement in 503 a.d., to their ascendancy in 843 a.d. The
original cause of this ohscurity is the want of contemporaneous writhig. An
ample field was thus left open for the conflicts of national emulation. Ignorance
and ingenuity, sophistry and system, all contributed by their various efforts
to make what was dark still more obscure. The series and genealogy of the
kings have been involved in peculiar perplexity by the contests of the Irish
and Scottish antiquaries for pre-eminence in antiquity as well as in fame ;
and Cimmerian darkness overspreads the annals of a people who were too
restless for the repose of study, and too rude for the elaboration of writing.
In the sister islands there happily remam, however, various documents of sub-
sequent compilation, which throw many flashes of light on the obscure trans-
actions of the Scoto-Irish tribes, and which serve equally to enable us to unravel
the entangled genealogies of the Scoto-Irish kings. In Ireland there exist the
annals of Tigernach and of Ulster, with the useful observations thereon of
O'Flaherty and O'Connor. There existed also in various depositories, several
brief chronicles and historical documents, which Innes first brought to light,
in a happy hom- for the North-British history ({). A Gaelic poem, or genea-
logical account of the Scoto-Irish kings, also sheds some rays of light on this
gloomy subject (Jc). Some other chronicles are fortunately preserved from the
destruction of design and the waste of accident, which were also compiled
before ignorance and folly, and refinement and system, began to falsify the
Scottish annals. From an attentive consideration of all those, and from an
accurate examination of other documents, I have compiled a genealogical and
chronological Table of the Scoto-Irish kings during that dark period of their
distracted annals (I). I trust it will be found to be more satisfactory than any
(j) See Innes's Critical Essay, p. 600-613 ; and his invaluable Appendix " of Ancient Pieces."
(Ic) This cui-ious Duan was published in the Enquiry, 1789.
(/) The authorities from which both the Chronological Table and the following history of
the Scottish kings have been collected, are, (1.) Chronica Rtyum Scotorum, from Fergus the son
of Ere till King William, a MS. in the Colbertine Library, which is printed in Innes's Critical
Essay, App. No. iv. (2.) Chronica Retjum Scotorum, from Fergus the son of Ere, till King Alex-
ander in., which was taken from the Eegister of the Priory of St. Andrew's, and is printed in
Innes's Crit. Essay, App. No. v. (3.) Chronicon Rythiiiycum, at the end of the Scoti-Chronicon,
a MS. in the Scots College of Paris, and is printed in Innes's Crit. Essay, App. No. vi. (4.) The
Duan Albanich, an historical and genealogical poem composed in the time of Malcolm IH.
which is printed in the Enquiry into the Hist, of Scotland, 1789, v. ii. App. No. ii., with a
literal translation by Mi-. Wilson, and a free translation by Mr. O'Connor. The literal translation,
though it contains a few mistakes, being made in a hurry and without consulting books, is by far
the most useful. The free translation is indeed extremely free, is much abridged, and in several parts
Ch. Yl.—T lie Scots.-] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 277
genealogical series that has yet been submitted to the inquisitive world ; and
I now lay it before the reader with the hope of clearing the dark, and settling
the doubtful, as to the early sovereigns of a country which has been aptly called
the cradle of the Scottish monarchy (m). This Table evinces, that the length
of the whole period, from the epoch of Fergus and of the settlement in 503 a.d.,
to the accession of Kenneth over the Picts in 843, is 340 years ; that the sum
total of the several reigns, which the Table assigns to the various kings, amounts
also to 340 years, and the coincidence of these two sums of 340 years demon-
strates that the whole chronology of the kings is perfectly accurate.
is mistaMngly rendered. O'Flaherty has given a free trauslation of tlie first twelve disticlis as
far down as Ferchar I. Ogygia Vindicated, p. 143, 145. This is also in several parts faulty, but
he says his copy was an imperfect one. (5). The Extracts from the Annals of Ulster in the British
Museum, which were published by Johnston in 1786 ; Antiq. Celt. Normannicse, p. 56 ; and in
the Enquiry into the Hist, of Scotland, 1789, v. ii. App. No. 1. Many of the dates in these
extracts are one year behind the dates in the Annals of Tigeniach, and also behind the dates quoted
by Usher from the original Annals of Ulster. (6). Adamnan's Life of St. Columba. (7). Usher's
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, 1639. (8). O'Flaherty's Ogygia. (9). Ogygia Vindicated, by
OTlaherty, with O'Connor's Dissertation and Notes, 1775. (10.) Innes's Critical Essay on the Ancient
Inhabitants of North-Britain, 1729. (H.) The Enquiry into the History of Scotland, 1789, with
the collateral aid of many other books. I have also derived great help from the MS. Collections of
Innes, which he had employed fifty years to amass for his Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, and
which I owe to the obliging communication of his late grand-nephew, Alexander Innes of the Scots
College at Paris.
(wi) The errors and confusion which have been introduced into the series and the historj- of the
Scottish kings have chiefly originated from the following causes : 1st, The sovereignity was not
transmitted by the strict line of hereditary descent. There were, as we shall see, three great families,
who, as they spi'ung from the royal stock, occasionally grew up into the royal stem ; two of these
were descended from Fergus I. by his grandsons, Comgal and Gauran, the third was descended from
Loam, the brother of Fergus. This circumstance naturally produced frequent contests and civil wars
for the sovereignty, which from those causes was sometimes split, and the representatives of Fergus
and Loam, reigned independently over their separate territories at the same time. The confusion
which all this had produced can only be cleared up by tracing as far as possible the history of these
different f;imilies, and developing the civil contests which existed among them. 2d, Much perplexity
has been produced by the mistakes and omissions of the Gaelic bard who composed the Albanic Duan,
particularly in the latter part of the series, where he has erroneously introduced several supposititious
kings from the Pictish Catalogue. These mistakes having been adopted by those writers whose
object was rather to support a system than to unravel the history of the Scottish monarchs, have in-
creased rather than diminished the confusion
278
An account
[Book II. — The Pictish Period.
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Ch. Yl.—The Scots.J 0 p N 0 E T H - B E I T A I N . 279
If we may credit the Irish chroniclers, the three sons of Ere enjoyed each an
independent government, according to the anarchical maxims of the Irish polity,
within his own district, in subordination, however, to the sovereign of Ire-
land (ii). Neither of the brothers at the epoch of their emigration were young,
if we may believe the same chroniclers, who assure us that the children of Ere
had received the honour of St. Patrick's benediction before his death in
493 A.D. The early decease of each of the three bi-others after their settle-
ment, seems to be a stiU stronger proof of their having declined far into the
vale of years before they engaged in the difficult work of founding a new
dynasty of kings, and settling a new race of people, within a rugged country of
lakes and defiles. Angus soon died, leaving a son Muredach, who enjoyed his
authority within the narrow limits of Islay ; and Loarn, the eldest brother, also
deceased, leaving his brother Fergus the sole monarch of the Dalriadinian
Scots (o), Fergus did not long sur\dve his brothers, as he died in 50G a.d.,
leaving his pretensions, whatever they were, and his power, however limited, to
his son Domangai't (p). The Gaelic poem applies to Fergus the epithet ard,
which may mean great in character, or first in sovereignty.
{n) OTlalierty's Ogygia, p. 470-2; O'Connor's Dissert., 199; and the Albanic Historical poem,
or Duan. But the ancient chronicles in Innes's Appendix, No. 4, 5, 6, uuifonnly speak of Fergus as
the sole monarch of the Dalriadinian territories, which he only enjoyed during the short period of
three years.
(o) Loarn, who is called Loarnus Magnus by OTlaherty, had several children, of whom the most
celebrated was Erca, who was married successively to two cousin-germans, the grandsons of Niel, the
gi-eat king of Ireland. She first married Muredach, the son of Eogan, by whom she had three sons ;
Murecheard, who reigned king of Ireland from 513 to 534 a.d., Feredach, and Moen. She married
for her second husband, Fergus, the son of Conal, by whom she had four sons ; Sednse, who was
progenitor of several of the supreme kings of Ireland, Fedlim (the father of St. Columba), Lugad,
and Brendan. Ogygia, p. 470-1, and Ogygia Vindicated, p. 159. It seems more than probable that
the race of Loam, who in after times succeeded occasionally to the Dalriadinian throne, sprung from
the first marriage of Erca, as we see that Muredach, Eogan, and Ferchar, were family names in that
royal series. Murecheard, the son of Erca, and king of Ireland as above mentioned, was sumamed
Mac-Erca from his mother. Ogygia Vindicated, p. 159. From Murecheard descended no fewer than
sixteen monarchs of Ireland. lb. Pref., p. 4.
(/?) The three Chronicles in Innes's App. No. 4, 5, 6, and Innes's Chronica Accurata, together
with the Enquirer 1789, all concur in stating that Fergus reigned three years, from 503 a.d.
The Gaelic poem extends his reign to twenty-seven years, and O'Flaherty carries up its extent to
sixteen; and see Usher's Prim. Chron. Index, under 503 A.D., p. 1122-3. Fergus is the appro-
priate name which the ancient Chronicles in Innes's App. and the Gaelic poem give to the great
founder of the Scottish monarchy, according to the Scotti-sh Chroniclers. The proper L-ish name is
Feargus, which is derived from the fearg of the Irish language, signifying a champion, or warrior.
O'Brien's Diet. This has been latinized Fcrgusius. Several chiefs of great note among the old Irish
bore this distinguished appellation. The second husband of Erca was Fergus, as we have seen.
280 A N A C C 0 U N T Book TL.—The Pictish Period.
The new reign of five years is said by the Gaelic poem to have been
crowded with troubles, which however are not recounted. Yet Domangart
died quietly in 511 A.D., leaving two sons, Congal and Gabhran, who
snccessively possessed his petty dominions, and indisputably enjoyed his incon-
siderable power {q). The root of Fergus now branched out into two great
stems, which are distinguished in the Irish Chronicles by the appropriate ap-
pellations of Cineal-CoxngsX, and CMieaZ-Gauran ; the race of Comgal, and the
race of Gauran. Their contests for pre-eminence produced bloody conflicts,
which ended in frequent revolutions of power that the pen of history must
narrate and ex^Dlain.
A peaceful reign of four-and-twenty years gave Comgal, the grandson of
Fergus, leisure to extend his settlements and to consolidate his authority. Yet
has he left no events for history to record. The Gaelic poem recites, indeed,
that his long reign passed away ivithout wars (r).
Comgal was succeeded by his brother Gabhran or Gauran, in 535, without
a contest. This reign of two-and-twenty years is said by the Gaelic poem to
have passed away ivithout reproach. Engaging, ho-wever, on whatever motive,
in hostilities with the Picts, Gauran was overpowered by their king, Bridei, the
A Fergus reigned King of Ireland with Donald, a.d. 565. Ware's Antiq. Hib., p. 19 ; Ogygia, p.
430. A Fergus was king of Temora at tlie end of the seventh century. Ware, p. 21. O'Flaberty
calls Fergus the son of Ere, " Fergus-;no;' Mac-Mise." Ogygia, p. 472. He was surnamed Mac-Mise
from his mother, whose name was Mise. So Mui-echeard the king of Ireland was called Mac-Erca
from his mother. The epithet mor which O'Flaherty applies to Fergus, denotes simply, great in body,
while the epithet ard which the Gaelic bard afBxes to his name, means great in mind, mighty. Fergus
was probably, as O'Flaherty asserts, the youngest of the three sons of Ere, who conducted the Irish
colonists to Kintyre. Og3'gia Vind., p. 140.
((/) For the length of the reign of Domangart, see Innes's App. No. 4, 5, 6 ; and O'Flaherty, and
Junes, and the Enquirer, 1789, concur in fixing it to five years. The Duan, or Gaelic poem, alone re-
strains it to four. Domangard, which is properly Domhangard, is called Domangart in the Chron.
No. 4 ; Davenghart, in the Chron. 5 ; Donegart, in the Chron. Eythm ; Dongard, in Fordun ;
Domangardus, in O'Flaherty ; and Dongardus, in Buchanan.
(?•) The Chronicle in the Eegister of St. Andrews, and the Chron. Eyth. in Innes's App.
No. 5 and 6, lengthen the reign of Comgal to twenty-four years, an extent which is adopted by
O'Flaherty and Innes. The Chron. No. 4, in Innes's App., enlarges the period to thii-ty-two
years. The Annals of Ulster when properly understood, confirm the Chronicles before men-
tioned, in fixing the commencement of his reign in 511 a.d., and its conclusion in 535 a.d.
Comgal, or more properly Comhgall, or Comgail, in the Irish speech, denotes one of the same
tribe, consangiiinitij. O'Brien's Diet. This name is variously spelt Congal and Comgal, in the
Chron. No. 4, and No. 5, Chomghall, in the Gaelic poem, Comgallus, by O'Flaherty, and Con-
gallus by Buchanan. A Congal reigned supreme king of Ireland from 703 to 710 a.d. Ware's
Antiq., p. 2 1 .
Cb. YI.—T/ie Scots.} 0 F N 0 E T H - B E I T A I N. 281
son of Mailcon (a-) ; and his government was thus left open in 557 a.d. to
Conal, the son of Comgal, the grandson of Domangart, the great-grandson of
Fergus.
Conal, the protector of Columba, was not, however, fortunate either in his
family or his government. An unlucky administration of fourteen years was
unhappily closed by civil war in 571. Aidan, the son of Gauran, claimed the
crown ; and this pretension was settled on the bloody field of Loro in Kin tyre,
where Duncha, the son of Conal, lost his life and his succession, as we learn
from the Ulster Annals (i). Such was the event of this contest for sovereignty,
between the race of Comgal and the race of Gauran, who were both descended
from their forefather Fergus. The tribe of Gauran remained in possession of
Kintyre ; the tribe of Comgal enjoyed the less desirable district of Argyll ; and
these two tribes are sometimes distmguished in the Irish Annals, as the sept of
Kintyre, and the sept of Argyll.
An active reign of five-and-thirty years furnished many occasions for dis-
playing the enterpi'ize, the successes, and the misfortunes of Aidan. He was
inaugurated by Columba in 574 on the holy lona {u). He overpowered his
(s) The Ancient Chron. No. 4, and the Chron. in the Register of St. Andrews, No. 5, in Innes's
App., assign to the reign of Gauran two-and-twenty years, an elongation which Innes has adopted in
his Chronica Accurata. The Chron. Eyth. restrains this reign to twenty years, and the Duan to two,
a mistake that O'Flaherty follows, without perceiving that the bard, like other poets, often sacrifices
the sense to the sound. The Enquirer, 1789, restrains the government of Gauran to sixteen years,
merely upon a mistaken calculation from a supposititious date in the Annals of Ulster. The genuine
date in these Annals is 557, which is the true epoch of the demise of Gauran. Gauran is variously
spelt Gabran, in the Genealogy, No. 4 ; Goveran, in Chron. No. 4 ; in Innes, Gowren ; in Chron.
Eythm. Gauranus ; in O'Flaherty, the Gonranus and Conranus, of Buchanan and Boece, are mere
mistakes for Gauranus. The proper Ii'ish name, as we see it in the Gaelic poem, is Gabhran, which
is pronounced Gauran.
(t) O'Flaherty states this battle to have happened at Deal/jan, in Kintyre. Ogygia, p. 473.
The Ancient Chron., No. 4, the Chron. in the Register of St. Andrews, No. 5, and the Chron.
Ryth. in Innes's App., give fourteen years as the length of Conal's reign, an extent that Innes
adopts in his Chronica Accurata. The Duan, with poetic licence, extends this reign to fifteen
years, a mistaken elongation that is followed by O'Flaherty, and copied by the Enquirer, 1789,
in compliment to the Celtic Song which best suited his adopted system. Conal is latinized
Conallus, in Fordun. Conal is the name of many great princes of Ireland. O'Brien gives an account
of many of this name. From one of these, Tir-Conail, the /and of Conal derived its name. Diet, in
vo. Conal, who is said to have given the isle of Hy to St. Columba, and who was the third cousin of
the saint ; Conal being the great-grandson of Fergus, and St. Columba the great-grandson of Loam,
the two great leaders of the Scoto-Irish colony. Tigernach, in Ogygia, p. 473; Ulster Annals; Usher's
Primordia, p. 703, 1143.
(») Adamnan, 1. iii., cap. v. ; Ush. Prim., p. GIO, 709, 1145 ; Ogygia, p. 474.
Vol. I. 0 o
282 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book ll.~The Pictish Period.
antagonist at the battle of Loro. in 575. He fous'ht the frivolous battle of
Arderyth, with Kydderch the bountiful king of Strathcluyd, in 577 (x) ; and,
comino- to the aid of the Cumbrian-Britons, Aidan defeated the Saxons at
Fethanlea on Stanmore, in 584 (y). In fighting again in support of the
Britons, he defeated the Saxons in 590, at the battle of Leithredh, when his
two sons, Arthur and Eocha-fin, were however slain, with rather more than
three hundred menCs) From this specification of the loss, it is obvious,
though Bede speaks of the vast army of Aidan, that the armies of those times
were far from numerous, and that their conflicts were rather tumultuous than
i-egular. In 598, Aidan appears to have been worsted by the Saxons in the
battle of Kirkinn, where his son Domangart was slain (a). Aidan was totally
defeated by the Northumbrians under ^Ethilfrid, at the battle of Dawstane, in
603 (6). The Dalriadini were now so completely overcome, that they did not
venture for ages so far into the hostile country of the south. Meantime
(x) H. Lhuyd's Commentariolum, ed. 1731, p. 142-4.
(y) Saxon CLiron., p. 22 ; Usher's Prim., p. 570, 1147, which quotes the English Chronicles.
Aidan is even said to have carried his victorious arms into the Isle of Man about the same period.
The Annals of Ulster, under 581-2, state, "Bellum ilanan, in quo victor erat Aodhan Mac-
Gauran." Enquiry Hist. Scot., 1789, v. ii., App. i. In Johnston's edition of the Extracts from
these Annals, he converts Manan into Man. Antiq. Celto-Nomi., p. 57 ; and O'FIaherty says,
" Anno circiter 584 Aidanus rex in Mannia insula victor." Ogygia, p. 474. There does not, how-
ever, appear any thing but the mere similarity of the name to warrant the application of the
Manan to the Island of Man. On the contrary, it is highly probable that the battle of Manan
which is mentioned by the Annals of Ulster, was the same that the Saxon Annals record to have
happened at Stanmore. The dates of both agree, making the usual allowance for the hackward-
ness of the Annals of Ulster in a number of their notices. The Saxon Stane-more refers to the
well-known moor of that name on the eastern confines of Westmoreland, which, as the name
implies, abounds with stone. Now the Britons, who on this occasion were confederated with
the Scoto-Iiish, would naturally call the same place by the analogous name of Maenan, which in their
language, denotes stoney, or a place of stone. So this battle may have been stated in the Irish Annals
by the British name of Maenan, while the Saxon annalists used the appropriate name of their own
language, Stanemore.
(z) Adamnan, 1. i., cap. 9; Tigernach ; Annals of Ulster; Ush. Prim., p. 709, 1037, 1148;
O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 475 ; lunes's MS. Eccles. Hist., p. 245. This conflict is called by Adamnan
Bellum Miatormi, and Fordun confounds it with the battle of Wodensburg.
(a) Adamnan, lib. i., cap. 9 ; and The Book of Cluan, in Ogygia, p. 475.
(6) Bede, lib. i., cap. 34 ; Sax. Chi-on., p. 24. This battle is herein said to have happened at
Daejstane. The real site of this decisive field appears to be Dawstane, a small farm in the parish of
Castleton, Roxburghshire, on a rivulet of the same name which falls into the Liddle, about two miles
from the march of Northumberland, near the only pass which leads on that side into an impervious
frontier. See Stobie's Map of Eoxburghshire ; and see also for the site of this battle, the map in
Smith's Bede.
Ch. \l.—T/,e Scots.^ OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 283
Aidan attended by Columba, appeared at the celebrated council of Drum-keat
in Ulster, during 590 A.D., where he claimed the principality of Dalriada, the
land of his fathers, and obtained by his influence a relinquishment of the
homage which seems to have lieen yielded by the reguli of Kintyre to the
kings of the parental island (c). Aodh or Hugh, the son of Ainmerach, was
then sovereign of Ireland (cZ). During a long reign of active enterprize, Aidan
appears I'ather to have raised his fame than extended his territories. In his
several conflicts with the Saxons, he wasted his strength upon a powerful
enemy, who was almost beyond the reach of his arm. He acquired in the
metaphorical language of a courtly poet, the appropriate appellation of " righ-na
" niol-rann," or king of the noble jjortion. After all his ambitious conflicts,
Aidan, the greatest of the Dalriadinian monarchs, died quietly in Kintyre at the
age of eighty, during the year 605, and was buried in Kil-cheran (e).
Eocha'-bui, the son of Aidan, quietly assumed the sceptre of his father,
according to the vaticination of Columba, which foretold, saith Adamnan, not
only the succession of the son of Aidan, but the misfortunes of his posterity {/).
Eocha', the yellow haired, reigned sixteen years ; but his reign seems to have
gone down under a cloud of foreign, perhaps of civil war. In 620 he appears
to liave been engaged in warfare with the Cruithne of Ulster. Kenneth-cear,
as tanist or heir apparent to the kingdom, conducted his army against those
(c) Adamnan, 1. i., cap. x., p. 49 ; 0'Fla.lierty, p. 475 ; Kennedy's Chron. Hist, of the Stuarts,
p. 169.
(d) Usher's Prim., p. 947.
(«) Usher's Prim., 1156, and the Chron. Table of the Scottish kings. The ruins of the church
of Kil-cheran, or the chapel of Ciaran the saint, which contains the dust of Aidan, may still be
seen in the midst of Campbeltown, the present resort of peaceful fishers. Aidan seized the Dal-
riadinian sceptre, in 571 a. d., reigned thirty-four years, and died in 605. The Ancient Chron.
No. 4, the Chron. in the Register of St. Andrews, and the Chron. Ehyth. No. 6, in Innes's
App., state the length of the reign of Aidan to be 34 3'ears, an extent which Innes adopts. The
Gaelic poem makes the length of this reign twenty-four years, O'Flaherty thirty-two, and the
Enquirer, 1789, without any evidence, thirty years. The Annals of Ulster state the year of
Aidan's demise in 605, which is supported by the Chron. No. 4, 5, and 6, in Innes's Ajsp. Fordun
adopts this date. Innes considers this as a fixed epoch, on which all parties agree. Crit. Essay,
V. il., p. 69.3. Tet Usher states that Eocha-bui succeeded his father Aidan in 606. Primord.,
p. 710 ; and O'Flaherty follows him in this inaccuracy. Ogygia, p. 474. The name of Aidan
is latinized Aidanvs by Fordun, O'Flaherty, and Buchanan. It is Edaiu, Edan, Edhan, in
the Chronicles. The proper Ksh name is Aodhan. In the Sax. Chron. this entei-prizing king of the
Scoto-Iiish is called .Silj-San ; the Saxon (5) being pronounced like the English (y), and the (6) like
the English (th).
(/) Vita Columbse, lib. i., cap. ix.
Oo2
284 AnACOOUNT [Book ll.—The Pictish Period.
warlike people into the successful field of Ardcoran, wherein was slain Fiachna,
the son of the UJtonian monarch {g). In this conflict the Scoto-Irish prevailed.
Donald-breac, the son of Eocha'-bui, led the race of Gauran into the successful
battle of Kenn during the same year. But Eocha' did not long survive his
victories, as he died soon after, and was succeeded by his son Kenneth- cear,
the tanist, and of course the leader of his troops [h).
Kenneth, the awkward, the son of Eocha'-bui, succeeded his father in
621 A.D., being already the heir apparent, Kenneth ruled happily, saith the
Gaelic bard, during three months (t). He prosecuted the war of his prede-
cessor, and was vanquished and slain in the unfortunate conflict of Fedhaevin,
in fighting against the Cruithne of Ireland {k).
Kenneth-cear was followed in 621 by Ferchar the son of Eogan, who was
the first of the race of Loarn that acquired the unstable monarchy of the Scoto-
(S) Tigernach, Annals of Ulster, and O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 476.
(h) Eocha'-bui denotes the yellow haired Eocha. Aidan had another son, who was named
'Eocha -Jin, or white haired Eocha. Such were the nice discriminations of the Celtic people in
applying epithets to persons as well as to places. This name has been variously spelt in the several
chronicles, Eochoid-buidhe, Eochod-flavus, Heoghed-bude, Eog-hedbod ; he was called Hecged-
bud by Wyntoun ; Echac-buide, Ocha-buid, in the genealogies in Fordun ; Eugenius IV. by Fordun
and Buchanan. The Gaelic bard calls him Eachach-buidhe. Eocha' in the Iiish is the proper name
of a man. O'Brien's Diet.
(i) All the authorities agree that Kenneth-cear became king in 621 a. d., and reigned only
three months. They do not, however, concur- in his filiation. The Chi-onicles, No. 4 and 5,
in Innes's App., call him the son of Conal. O'Flaherty, from the Irish authorities, states him to
have been the son of Eocha'-bui. Ogygia, p. 477 ; and he is supported by probability, for
Kenneth commanded the army of Eocha' and enjoyed his sceptre. Kenneth-cear in the Irish is
Ooinadh-cear. By the Gaelic bard he is called Conchad-cear ; by O'Flaherty, Conadh-cerr ; by
Innes, Connadh-cearr ; by the Chronicles, the same prince is called Kinat-kerr, and Kinat-siiiister ;
by Boece, Kenneth-ker ; in the Latin of O'Flaherty, Conadius-ker ; in the Latin of Buchanan,
Kenn-ethus. Coinadh, or as differently spelt, Cainnach, by Macdonald's Vocabulary ; Caoinnach,
by Macfarlane's Vocabulary ; is a proper name among the Scoto-Irish to this day. It denotes in the
Irish, iiiild tempered, peaceable, being formed from the adjective Caoin. The same name is spelt by
the English, Kenneth or Keneth. The Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 162, tries to prove that Kenneth is a
Pictish or Gothic name, Cinaed or Kineth, was king of Ii-eland from 724 to 727 A. d. Ware's Antiq.,
p. 21 ; Ogygia, p. 432. The proper meaning of the epithet Cearr is the most doubtful of any of the
sobriquets which have been appHed by the Chronicles to the Scoto-Irish kings. It may signify left-
handed or awkward, as the Chron. No. 4 in Innes translates it. It may signify red; but the common
word denoting red, as applied to persons, is ruadh, or as it is Englished, roy. Ciar would signify dark-
brown ; but left-handed or awkward seems to be the most likely meaning. Macfarlane's Vocab. in
vo. Cearr.
{k) Tigernach ; and the Annals of Ulster ; O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 477.
Ch. Yl.— The Scots.'] OpNOETH-BBITAIN. 285
Irish in North-Britain. He seized the sceptre, which he saw Imd fallen from
a vanquished hand ; and he was inaugurated by Conan, the bishop of Sodor,
if we may believe the learned Usher [I). Columba, who had inaugunited
Aidan was now dead. Ferchar certainly reigned sixteen years ; but such was
his vigour or success during troublous times, that he left no events for history
to recount. He died in 637 a.d. (m).
Donal-breac, the son of Eocha'-bui, of the Fergusian race of Gauran, suc-
ceeded Ferchar on his demise, in 637. Donal, who was called breac, or
freckled from being often exposed to the sun, had already gathered laiu^els
in the field of Kenn whilst his father reigned. The Gaelic Bard is studious to
decorate the enterprizing Donal with the epithet Bla', which, as it signifies in
his language, renoum or fame, he appears to have merited (a). He was in-
duced by his vehemence of spirit, contrary to the vaticinal warnings of Co-
lumba, to carry a mixed body of various people into the sacred island against
Domnal II., who then reigned supreme king of Ireland. Domnal was the son
of Aodh I., the grandson of Ainmerach, and the great-grandson of Sednse, one
of the sons of Erca, by her second marriage ; and was, of course, the relation
of Columba, and the kinsman of Donald-breac. The cause of this unpropitious
(/) Primord. 711, 1158.
(in) The Clirouicles in Innes's Appendix and the Gaelic poem agree in extending the reign
of Ferchar to sixteen years, and this extent is adopted by Innes and the Enquirer, 1789 ; so that
the length of this reign seems to be a point agreed. Not so the filiation of Ferchar. The Chrons.
No. 4 and 5 in Innes's Appendix, call Ferchar the son of Ewen, with which concurs Usher as
above. The Gaelic poem, however, speaks of Ferchar as the son of Kenneth-kear, and this
filiation is adopted by O'Flaherty. Ogygia, p. 477. Yet is there reason to suspect that the
bard has again sacrificed the fact as stated by the Chronicles, to the fiction as adopted by
O'Flaherty. Eogan and Ferchar are family names in the race of Loam, but not in the race of
Fergus, so that it is more than probable that Ferchar and his father Eogan were of the royal
race of Loarn. Ferchar, or more fitly Fearchur, is a proper name among the Irish and Scoto-Irish.
It is Fearchair in the Gaelic poem. The word signifies a champion, manhood, courage. O'Brien's
Diet. The English and Scottish Farquhar is the same name. In the Chronicles this king is
variously called Ferchar, Fearchair, Ferquarth ; and the name is latinized Farquardus by Buchanan
and O'Flaherty.
(a) Donal- J/'eac, or freckled, or pock-pitted Donal, is variously called Dovenald- Varius, Downal-brec,
Dovenald-brec, Donald ; and by the Gaelic Poem, Domnail-bhric. Domhnal, which is pronounced
Donal, was the proper name of several princes among the old Irish, hence the MacDonals, O'Donels.
O'Brien's Dictionary. The name of Donal, which is latinized Domnallus, and Donaldus, occurs fre-
quently in the Catalogue of the Irish kings. Of the supreme liin^^s of Ireland from 5G5 to 763, three
were named Donal. Ware's Antiq., p. 18-23. Yet, says the Inquiry, 1789, the name of Domnail, or
Donald, is Gothic, as indeed he adds, systematically, most Irish names of kings are — ^that is, before
the Goths arrived in Ireland 1
286 A N A C 0 0 U N T [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
war may be traced to the following source. Congal-CIaon, the son of Scanlan,
the king of the Cruithne in Ulster, having slain Suibne-mean, the king of
Ireland, was attacked by Domnal II., who succeeded Suibne, and was defeated
in the battle of Duncethern a.d. 629. Congal was thus obliged to seek for
shelter in Kintyre ; and having induced the inconsiderate Donal-breac to en-
gao-e in his odious quarrel, they carried into Ireland a mixed army of Scoto-
Irish, of Picts, of Britons, and of Saxons, who were led by Donal-breac and
his brothers. Cealach, the son of Maelcomh, the nephew of the reigning king,
and as tanist, the leader of his army, attacked Domnal-breac on the plain of
Moyrath in 637, and completely defeated him after a long and bloody conflict.
Coniyal met his merited fate ; and Domnal-breac was obliged to secui-e his retreat
and the safety of his army in Kintyre (6). Such was the rashness of Domnal-
breac ! He invaded the hallowed land of his fathers in support of the mur-
derer of its lawful sovereign ; and he attacked, as we have seen, his own and
Columba's kinsmen. Domnal-breac derived no wisdom from his late misfor-
tune. In the subsequent year he engaged in a difterent war ; and he was
again defeated, during the year 638, in the battle of Glenmoreson, within the
country of the Picts (c). The Irish legends, indeed, pretend to demonstrate,
that the prophecies which foretold the misfortunes of Donal the freckled,
were all fulfilled in his fate {d). He was warned not to molest the land of his
fathers, and the family of Columba ; yet, with the intemperance of his nature,
he led an army of foreigners into the sacred island ; and, as he was carried by
his destiny into the Clyde, he was slain at Sraith-Cairmaic by the obscure sword of
Hoau, one of the reguli of Strathcluyd, during the year 642 (e). His destiny seems
to have even confounded his chronology, which, as it is extremely embarrassed,
will require some trouble to settle it. He certainly began to reign in 637 (_/),
as the series of his predecessors evince ; and he undoubtedly was slain in 642,
(i) Ulster Annals; Ogygia, p. 478; Ware's Antiq., p. 20; Uslier's Prim. p. 712. Domnal 11.
reigned from 628 to 642 a.d.
((■) There is an extensive valley in Inverness-shire, called Glenmoreson. If this be the same,
Domnal-breac must have been engaged with the northern Picts. Ogygia, p. 478 ; Ulster Annals ;
Usher's Prim., p. 712. It must be again obsei"ved that the extracts from the annals of Ulster in the
British Museum, which were published by Johnston in 1786, and in the Enquiry into the Hist, of
Scotland, 1789, have the dates of many notices a year behind the annals of Tigernach, and also behind
the dates quoted by Usher from the original Annals of Ulster.
(d) Adamnan, lib. iii. cap. v. ; Acta Sanctorum St. Bent. Saec. v. p. 361-7.
(e) Annals of Ulster; Usher's Prim., p. 712 ; Langhom's Cat. of the Cumbrian kings; Ogygia, p.
478; Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 117-119.
(/) See the Chronological Table.
Ch. Nl.—The Scots.l OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 287
A.D., as we have seen above {g). The destiny of Donal seems also to have
pursued his issue ; his son Cathusaidh was slain by the same Hoan in 649,
and his great-grandson, Cathasuidh, died in 688, as we learn from the Ulster
annals. The destiny of Donald appears from sad events to have introduced
competition into the succession of his race. Conal II., the grandson of Conal I.,
who was also of the Fergusian race of Congal, succeeded his unfortunate pre-
decessor in the government of the tribes of Kintyre and Argyll. But Dungal,
of the ambitious race of Loarn, ruled at the same time over the tribe of
Loarn and disputed the pre-eminence with Conal. Dungal, however, appears
not to have long maintained the contest ; and Conal seems without further
molestation to have closed his career of ten years in 652 a.d. The Gaelic
Bard calls this prince Conal na creach, or Conal of the spoils ; and we may
from this circumstance infer, what is sufficiently probable in itself, that he had
wasted the district of his competitor and driven away in triumph the cattle
of Loam (h).
[g) Tlie Enquirer, 1789, tries to cut the linot which he cannot untie. He deducts from the
preceding reign of Ferchar eight years, in order to carry back the commencement of Donal's reign
to the year 630 ; and he makes the length of his reign twelve years, for which there is not one
authority. Enquiry, v. ii., p. 117. The beginning of the reign of Donal must be fixed, by the
preceding chronology, to the year 637. The chronicles in Innes's Appendix, No. 4, 5, 6, extend
his reign to fourteen years. The Gaelic poem once more concurs with the chronicles ; and this
length of reign is adopted by Innes into his Chronica Accurata. Yet the influential authority of
Tigernach ; the satisfactory concui-rence of the Ulster annals ; the weighty voice of Usher ; and
the useful notice of O'FIaherty, all concur to fix the epoch of his death in 642 a. d. Primordia,
p. 712 ; Ogygia, p. 478 ; Annals of Ulster. In this point, the Enquiry, 1789, p. 119, also
concurs. I have found it necessary to adopt this epoch, because the subsequent chronology can-
not be otherwise adjusted, or be made to agree with events ; and, of consequence, I am obliged to
disagree for once with the chronicles in Innes's Appendix, by restricting the reign of Donald to
five years, which is most consistent with the series of events and the progress of his fate. Yet is
there reason to believe, that Donal-breac may have assumed a sort of sovereignty over his own
patrimonial territory of Kintyre for several years before the death of Ferchar. Donal-breac
having begun his career as an enterprizing commander, before Ferchar acquired the Scottish sceptre,
we may suppose that Donal would view the accession of a prince of the race of Loarn to the sove-
reignty, which his own father had so lately held, with a considerable degree of jealousy ; and his
restless disposition may have excited him to assume an independent rule in his patrimonial districts of
Kintyre, even as early as 628, being nine years before the demise of Ferchar, when he became the sole
monarch of the Scoto-Irish, and reigned five years longer. These intimations at once account for the
length of his reign, as stated in the ancient chronicles, as well as the Duan, and render both consistent
■with chronology.
{h) After the demise of Donal-breac, the Gaelic poet introduces into the series of the Scoto-
Irish kings, Conal, and Dungal, to whom he gives a joint reign of ten years ; and after them.
288 AnACCOUNT [Book IL.—The Pictish Period.
Donal-duin succeeded his father Conal in 652 A.r). Doual, the brown,
reigned thirteen years ; but such was the insignificance of his character and
the unimportance of his government that lie left no events for the narration of
history (i).
Maolduin, the brother of Donal-duin, succeeded him in 665 a.d. Maol-
duin was a prince of the Fergusian race of Comgal. The Gaelic poet is studi-
ous both to enlarge and legalize his reign by applying to his government,
with a bardie retrospect to the past and prescience of the future, the eiDithet
godh'ghtheach, signifying laicfully in his language ; but the Bard with all
his knowledge, has recorded none of the events of the laivfid reign of Maol-
duin (k). Yet the Ulster annals and Tigernach recount the murder of
Domangart the son of Donal-breac in 672 A.D. [I) ; and the same annals
also recite the assassination of Conal the son of Maolduin in 675 a.d. These
odious deeds mark the savage manners of lawless times. It is apparent, how-
ever, that they were accomplished by the fell dagger of family feuds. Between
the Fergusian races of Comgal and Gauran there existed a continual compe-
tition for pre-eminence, and Maolduin, the reigning king, who was of the
Comgal race, may have contributed to the death of Domangart the son of
Donal-breac, who was of the race of Gauran. Revenge prompted the family
of Domangart to retaliate on Conal the son of Maolduin [m). By these terri-
Donal-duin, to whom he assigns a reign of thirteen years ; yet none of those three reguli are
mentioned by the chronicles in Innes's Appendix. The Enquiry, 1789, p. 119, follows the Gaelic
poem as to the length of Conal's reign. O'Flaherty, without any authority, extends his reign to
eighteen years. But the subsequent series of the kings does not admit of a longer reign to Conal than
ten years.
(i) None of the ancient chronicles in Innes's Appendix recognize Donal-duin, except the
chronicle in the register of St. Andrews, No. 5, which speaks of him as the father of Maldwin,
the succeeding king. The Gaelic Poem, O'Flaherty, and the Enquirer, 1789, give Donal-duin
a reign of thirteen years, from A.D. 652. It is conjectured that the chroniclers may have, mis-
takingly, passed from Donal-breac to Donal-duin, without perceiving that they rejected three kings, who
are demanded equally by the series of the sovereigns and the genealogy of the families. See the
Chronological and Genealogical Table.
(i) The chronology fixes the accession of Maolduin to the year 665. The Chronicles, No. 5,
and 6, in Innes's Appendix, give him a reign of sixteen years. The Gaelic Poem, OTlaherty, and the
Enquirer, 1789, unreasonably extend his reign to seventeen years. The Gaelic Bard calls this king
" Maolduin, mhic Conaill na gcreacli," Maolduin, the son of Conal of the spoils. He thus makes
Maolduin the son of Conal II., who succeeded Donal-breac in 642 a.d. ; and O'Flaherty supports his
authority,
(/) Annals of Ulster ; Ogygia, p. 479.
(m) The name of this king in Innes's Chronicles is Malduin. W3mtoun calls him Maldowny.
Ch. \l.~The ScoU.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 289
ble actions the two Fergusian families weakened each other, and gave an
ascendancy to the rival race of Loarn which they did not fail to assume.
Ferchar-/acZa, who derived the epithet tall, from his personal qualities, seized
the sceptre of Maolduin upon his death amidst those bloody scenes. Ferchar
was certainly of the family of Loarn, as the name seems to intimate, but he
was probably the grandson, rather than the son of Feixhar, who died in 637
A.D. The period of foui'-and-forty years which elapsed from the demise
of the one and the accession of the other, seems to carry that probability up
to fact (jJi). The dirk of the rival races continued ready at the call of compe-
tition to execute any purpose of ambition or motive of revenge. Donal, the
son of Conal, and grandson of Maolduin, who were of the Fergusian race, was
assassinated in 695 a.d. (n). Yet such was the vigour or the fortune of
Ferchar, that he continued to govern an irascible people amid family competi-
tion during one-and-twenty years; and he died in 702, when his bloody sceptre
passed into the rival house.
To Ferchar succeeded Eocha'-rineval, the son of Domangart, who, as we
have seen, was assassinated in 652. It is universally agreed that Eocha',
who was remarkable for his Roman nose, was of the house of Fergus, as he was
the grandson of Donal-breac (o). His reign was certainly short, and it probably
was unfortunate. His encroaching spirit prompted him to invade the neigh-
bouring territories of the Britons of Strathcluyd, but he was vigorously re-
Boece and Buchanan translate tlie name into Malduinus. The Gaelic Poem gives liim in the Irish
form the name of Maolduin, which literally signifies bald and broirn. This was a proper name among
the old Irish. The father of Fergal, the king of L'eland from 710 to 722 a.d., was Maoladuin.
Ware's Antiq., p. 21. The deaths of Malduin, the king of Ossory, and Maolduin MacCinfaola, the
chief of Eathboh, are mentioned in the Ulster annals under 816 a.d.
()«) All the authorities concur in stating that Ferchar succeeded Maolduin, and reigned one-and-
twenty years. But there is some doubt among them in respect to his filiation. The chronicles
in Innes's Appendix studiously omit this important point. O'Flaherty, on the authority of the
Book of Leoan, states that Ferchar-fada was of the race of Loarn, in the eighth descent. Ogygia,
p. 479 ; and Ogygia Vindicated, p. 109-141. Innes in his MS. Ecclesiastical Hist, says, though he
tells not on what authority, that Ferchar-fada was the son of Ferchar the first. The series of the
kings and the dates of events evince that he was the grandson of the first Ferchar. See the Chrono-
logical Table.
(»t) Ulster Annals ; Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 311.
(o) Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 120 ; the chronicles in Innes's Appendix, No. 4 and 5, give three years
to the reign of Eocha', and the Chronicle of Melros supports them on this head. The Chron.
Rythm. expands its length to thirteen years. The Gaelic Poem restrains this reign to two years, and
the Enquirer, 1789, assumes this restriction, while O'Flaherty gives it an elongation of seven years
upon no better evidence than supposititious dates.
Vol. I. Pp
ll
290 AnACCOUNT [Book 11.— The Pk-tish Period.
pulsed ill a bloody conflict on the banks of the Leven (p) ; and he had the
additional misfortune in the subsequent year to have his feeble sceptre seized
by a prince of the rival race of Loarn.
Ainbhcealach, the son of Ferchar-fada, succeeded Eocha' in 705 a.d.
The Gaelic Bard speaks of the new king as Ainbhcealach-7naiY/j. mhic Fearchair,
Ainbhcealach, the good, the son of Ferchar. He reigned, since he was too good
for a savage people and a wretched age, only one year, as aU the authorities
agree and as probability attests (q). He was dethroned by his brother Selvach,
and he was thus obliged in 706 a.d., to seek that shelter from the hospitality
of Ireland which he appears to have received. The ferocity of Selvach carried
the torch through Dunolla his father's castle and his brother's residence. At
the end of twelve years Ainbhcealach returned from Ireland with some assist-
"ance, but he perished during the year 719 in a gallant struggle for his
tarnished sceptre in the battle of Finglein, a small valley among the moun-
tains of Loarn (r).
Upon the expulsion of Ainbhceallach in 706 a.d., Selvach began to sway
the sceptre which he had wrested from his brother's hand. He was not, how-
ever, able to extend his sovereignity over the whole of the Scoto-Irish territories.
A powerful antagonist of the rival race of Fergus rose up at this epoch, to
resist the usurped power of Selvach, and to assert the right of his own sept.
Duncha-beg, who was descended from Fergus by the line of Comgal, assumed
the government of Kintyre and Argyll, and confined the rule of Selvach to his
family district of Loarn. We thus perceive two reguli of rival lineages go-
verning with equal authority two distinct divisions of the Dalriadinian king-
dom (.9), Selvach and Duncha the little, appear to have been princes of
(/>) O'Flalierty states, in Anno 704, " Strages Dalriedinonim in valle Levinii." Ogygia, p. 479.
This must be the valley on the river Leven in Dunbartonshire.
(q) Enquuy, 1789, v. ii., p. 120 ; and see the Chronological Table. This singular name has been
variously transfomied bj' the different chroniclers : Arinchellar, Armkellach, Armchallach, Amri-
kelleeh ; by Buchanan he is called Amberkelletus ; by Tigemach, Anbkellach ; by the Ulster Annals,
Ainsceallach ; by the Gaelic Poem, Ainbcheallach. Ainbhceallach appears plainly to have been a
compound name. Ceallach was an appropriate appellation among the great men of the old Irish.
O'Brien's Diet. Ceallach signifies war, strife. Id. Cellach appears in the series of the Irish kings
from 042 to 648 a.d. Usher's Prim., p. 947 ; 'Ware's Antiq., p. 20. What the prefix AiiM signifies
it is not easy to ascertain. Ainhhi means ferocious, so Ainbhi-Ceallach might mean the ferocious
Ceallach. Aine-Ceallach in Irish would denote the aijile Ceallach. Ain-ceallach in the same lan-
guage means the honourable, praise-worthy, or the pleasant Ceallach, which agrees with the qualities
assigned to this king by the Gaelic Bard.
(r) Tigernach in Ogygia, p. 479 ; Ulster Annals ; Stat. Acco., v. s., p. 524.
(«) Neither of the chronicles, No. 4, 5, and 6, in lunes's Appendix, introduces into the series
Ch.Yl.— The Scots.] 0 f N 0 E T H - B E I T A I N. 291
equal fei'ocity, of equal valour, and of equal enterprize. Their ambition and
activity produced many conflicts, which ended in the misery of their tribes.
In 7] 9 A.D., they both set out in their currachs to invade the territories of
each other ; and they met off Ardanesse, on the coast of Argyle, when a naval
battle commenced, which was long maintained with the fury of family con-
flicts and the gallantry of rival kings. The superior fortune of Duncha, at
length prevailed over the intrepid skill of Selvach, who was defeated, but not
subdued (t). So nearly equal was the strength of the rival races of Fergus,
and of Loarn, and so equally balanced were the powers of mischief in Duncha
and Selvach, that they continued for some time to contend for pre-eminence ;
since neither would admit a superior, and scarcely would allow an equal.
Duncha at length yielded to nature, but not to Selvach, in 721 a.d. {u) ;
when his sceptre and his sword were assumed by Eocha' III., the son of
Eocha'-rlneval (x). The rivalry of the two kings continued. At Air-Gialla,
in 727 A.D., an undecisive conflict was fought between Selvach and Eocha',
which left their tempers inflamed and their tribes miserable (y). But the
death of the able and unscrupulous Selvach in 729 a.d. seems to have
ended for a time the competition of the two houses and the wretchedness of
their clans (z). In the meantime the enterprize of Selvach attacked the more
civilized Britons of Strathcluyd. He appears to have defeated them at Lough-
of the Scottish kings either Selvach or Duncha-beg : they place Eogan, after Ainbhceallach. Neither
does the Gaelic Bard place either Selvach or Duncha in the royal line. Yet O'Flaherty, on
the authority of the Irish annals, places Selvach after Ainbhceallach, and Eocha' or Achaius
after Selvach, but he does not mention the length of their reigns. The Enquirer, 1789, introduces,
indeed, Selvach after Ainbhceallach, and assigns him -withoiit authority a reign of twenty years.
He places Eocha' after Selvach, and also gives him without authority a reign of ten years. Enquiry,
V. ii., p. 120-5. But the facts which are distinctly stated by Tigemaeh, and by the Ulster Annals,
evince the separate sovereignity of Selvach and Duncha-beg, and demand that they should be placed
in the series of the kings.
(t) Tigemaeh, in Ogygia, p. 480 ;• Ulster Annals.
(«/.) Tigernach, in Ogygia, p. 480 ; Ulster Annals.
(a;) The Duncha-6e^ of the Ulster Annals is latinized by O'Flaherty into Duncadus-parvu*.
Donncha is a very common name among the old L'ish. O'Brien. Donchad appears more than
once in the series of the kings of Ireland. Ogygia, p. 429-33. Donchad occurs frequently
in the Ulster Annals, and in Tigernach, as an Irish name ; it is a common name among the Scoto-
Irish to the present day. Duncha-beg was of the Fergusian race of Gomgal, among whom this
was a family name. Duncha, the grandson of Comgal, was killed, as we have seen, in the battle
of Loro, A.D. 575-6. The Irish Dunchad is the English Duncan. The Enquirer, 1789, v. ii.,
p. 164, insists that the gracious Duncan of the Scottish history is a Gothic name, from Dun, a fort,
and Kan, possum, valco ; and the author boasts of this systematic folly as far superior to any Iiish
etymology.
(y) Ulster Annals. (i) Id.
Pp2
292 AnACCOUNT [Book TL.—The Pictish Period'
coletli, in 710 ; and at the rock of Mionuire, in 716 a.d. (a). But as their
several countries wei-e imperviously separated by lochs, defiles, and mountains,
little advantage seems to have been obtained beyond the gratification of hatred
or perhaps the obtention of plunder.
Eocha' III., the son of Eocha' II., who is remembered for his protuberant
nose, became king of Kintyre and Argyll, as we have seen, on the death of
Duncha the little. Eocha' was of the Fergusian race of Gauran {h). He had
to execute the arduous task of maintaining a civil war against such an anta-
gonist as Selvach. These domestic conflicts seem to have been closed after
the battle of Air-Gialla, by a commodious compromise, which the safety of
the tribes may have sought, and the interest of the families dictated. It is cer-
tain, from the series of the kings, that the two houses of Fergus and Loarn
furnished a sovereign for the Dalriadinian kingdom by a sort of alternate
choice, though each several tribe and individual prince yielded but a slight
obedience to the reigning king. The death of Selvach transferred the govern-
ment of Loarn to Eocha' ; and from this transfer the whole Scoto-Irish
kingdom became again vmited in the sceptre of Eocha'. Eocha HI. died in
733 A.D., after a reign of nine yeai's over Kintyre and Argyll, and of four years
over all the Dalriadinian tribes.
He was immediately siicceeded by Muredach, the son of Ainbhceallach, who
was of the race of Loarn (c). This peaceful succession among a people who
(o) Ulster Annals.
(h) This Eoclia' is excluded Trith Selvach, by the Gaelic Bard, from the royal line. OTlaherty,
however, places him after Selvach. When Tigernach mentions the demise of Eochna' III. he
speaks of him as the son of Eocha', " Achaius filius Achaij." Ogygia, p. 480. This specifi-
cation shows the error of those late writers who consider Eocha' as the son of Duncha-beg,
merely because he succeeded him in the government at a time when there was no regular rule
of succession but a slight attention to the royal races. OTlaherty even more expressly than
Tigernach, calls " Achaius III. Achaij II. filius." Ogygia, p. 480 ; and he repeats the same
position in the Ogygia Vindicated, p. 101. In support of O'Flaherty's genealogy, it may be
mentioned that Eocha' is a family name of the Gauran race, but not of the Oomgal family. See the
Chronological Table. In this part of the series the Chronicles in Innes's Appendix, No. 4, 5, and 6,
place Eogan, who is said by No. 4 to have been the son of Ferchar-fada, and by No. 5 to have been
the son of Findan, which is obviously a mistake for Ferchar. This Eogan of the Chronicles appears
plainly to have been the Eocha' of Tigernach, the Ulster Annals, and of O'Flaherty. The filiation of
Eogan in the Chronicles is undoubtedly wrong, for Ferchar-fada appears to have had only two sons,
Ainbhceallach and Selvach ; and Tigernach, in speaking of the contest between them, calls them the
two sons of Ferchar-fada. The mistake of the chroniclers may have arisen by omitting Selvach, the
younger son of Ferchar, and by applying his filiation to Eogan, the next in the series, who was the
proper Eocha'.
(c) Tigernach states the filiation of Muredach very distinctly to be from the house of Loarn.
Ogygia, p. 480 ; and in this filiation he is confirmed by the Ulster Annals.
Ch. YL— The Scots:] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 293
■were so irascible from nature and so inflamed by collision, seems to intimate
some previous interposition of the tribes and some subsequent agreement
among the kings. By the Gaelic Bard he is called Mureadhaigh Mhaith,
Muredach the good, who now reigned sole monarch of the Dalriadinian terri-
tories. Soon after his accession events occurred which involved the people
in devastation and misery. Dungal the son of Selvach, who appeai-s to have
I inherited the vices without the virtues of his father, was prompted by his
baseness to invade the island of Culren Rigi, and to carry off" the Pictish
Forai, the daughter of Brude and the niece of the great Ungus. This aggra-
vated insult was soon avenged by severe retribution. Dungal meantime con-
ducted an expedition into Ulster (d), whence he seems to have been repulsed,
as he soon returned. It was not foreseen that while his fleet sailed westward
from the shores of Loarn, a storm was gathering in the east that would drench
the native tribe of Muredach in blood. In 7^6 a.d. Ungus, the enraged king
I of the Plots, led his army from Strathearn through the passes of the mountains
into Loarn which he wasted with fire and sword. He seized Duna and burnt
Creic, two of the strengths of Loarn (e) ; and having taken prisoners the two
sons of Selvach, Dungal and Feradach, he carried them in fetters to Forteviot
his capital (/). The rage of Ungus seems to have been thus satisfied. The
tribe of Loarn was overpowered but not subdued (g). Muredach collected his
warriors, and followed the track of his foe. A sharp conflict ensued at Cnuic-
Coirbre, where he was repulsed with great slaughter, and whence he was
pursued by Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, who commanded the Picts on
this bloody field (h). Muredach was probably slain in his flight, as he cer-
tainly died in 736 A.D., after an afflictive reign of three years (t). But this
(d) Tigemach, in Ogygia, p. 480.
(e) Duna stood in Mid-lorn, some miles east from Dunolla, wkicli was tlie chief residence of the
Loam d3masty. See the Map of Loam in Blaeu's Atlas, No. 35.
(/) Tigernach, in Ogygia, p. 480 ; Ulster Annals.
((/) This invasion and waste of Loam by Ungus is converted by the systematic wand of the Enquirer,
1789, into the total destraction of the country, the king, and his race, v. ii., p. 125. This annihila-
tion he perfomis contrary to his own authorities, to events, and to facts, in order to let into histoiy a
new system which is to give a Pictish race of kings to the Dalriadinian territories, and finally to make
the Picts conquer the Scots, instead of the conquest of the Picts by the Scots. For this system truth
is sacrificed, facts are falsified, and history is perverted.
(/i) Ulster Annals.
(i) The Chronicles, No. 4, 5, 6, in Innes's App., and the Gaelic Poem, all place Muredach on
the throne at this period, and give him a reign of three years. With the epoch of the accession
of Mui-edach, OFlaherty concurs ; but not so the Enijuirer, 1789, who places this event in
294 AnACCOUNT [BookTI.— The Fictish Period.
unsuccessfi.ll war Avith the Picts did not end with his unimportant life. Hosti-
lities continued against the tribe of Loarn till the princes of this race were so
depressed, that the Fergusian family gained the ascendancy wliich had been lost
by the destiny of Donal-breac.
Eoghan or Ewan, the son of Muredach, seized the fallen sceptre of his
father in 736 a.d. He had to sustain the destructive enmity of the Picts ;
and he died in 739 after an insignificant reign of three years. If we were to
credit recent inquiries, which too often substitute system for truth, we ought to
relate that Eogan never reigned (a). But chronology demands the period of
this reign for supplying the precision of its series as well as the length of its
continuance : and truth requires the sacrifice of system, which would bury
her consistency amidst the conceits of conjecture and the obscurities of error (b).
736 A.D., tliougli lie quotes expressly Tigernacli, wHo clearly assigns the sceptre to Muredach
in 733 A.D. Enquiry, v. ii., p. 12.5. The name of Muredach is variously transformed by
the several chronicles into Murdauch, Murochat, Murthee, and translated by Fordun and Buchanan
into Muirdacus, by Boece into Mordacus, by O'Flaherty into Muredachus. By the Ulster Annals the
same name is called Muireach, the (d) being quiescent ; by the Gaelic Poem, Mureadhaigh ; Muiread-
hach in Irish is the proper name of a man, it signifies a mariner. O'Brien. The name of Muirechard
has the same meaning. Muredach, the grandson of Neil, the king of Ii'eland, was the first husband of
Erca, the daughter of Loarn, as we have seen, by whom she had Muirechard, who was king of Ireland
from 513 to 534 a.d. Ware's Antiq., p. 19.
(«) Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 125-7. Disdaining the veracious chronicles, yet copying the Gaelic
poem, this writer excludes Eogan from the series of the kings between Muredach and Aodh-fin, by
which rejection he is obliged to make a breach in the chronology, that the three years reign of Eogan
completely supplies. This name has been variously transformed into Heogan, Ewen, Eugenius. Eogan
was the name of several great men among the old Irish. Eogan-mor was king of Munster during the
second century. O'Brien's Diet. Eogan appears to have been a family name among the race of
Loarn, as the father of Ferchar I. was called Eogan. The son of Neil, the king of Ireland, and the
father of Muredach, who married Erca, was named Eogan.
(A) The Chronicles all concur in making Eogan succeed his father Muredach, and in giving
him a reign of three years. The Gaelic poem introduces anarchy, at the demise of Muredach,
into the true series of the Scottish kings, till it recognises Dungal, who preceded Alpin. The wildnesa
of the Gaelic bard is not even countenanced by the L-ish annalists. On the other hand, the
Chronicles No. 4, 5, and 6 in Innes's App., as well as two other unpublished Chronicles which
were compiled from quite different documents, all agree in the consistency of the series of the
Scottish kings, and in the length of their several reigns, from the demise of Mui'edach to the
accession of Kenneth the son of Alpin. The Chronicles regularly state the filiation of every king,
with the connection of his predecessors and successors ; and their statements perfectly agree
with the requisite chronology and the authentic notices of that long period, without the necessity
of adding, subtracting, or altering a single month. In such coincidences the truth is' always
found, notwithstanding the perplexities of error arising from design or theory. Not one of the
supposititious kings of the Gaelic bard — namely. Conal, Constantine, Aongus, and Eogan — appears
Cli. Nl.—Thc Scots. 0 F N 0 E T H - B E I T A I N . 295
Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha' III., and the grandson of Eocha'-rineval, succeeded
Eogan in 739 A.D. The GaeHc bard calls this new king, who was descended
from Fergus by the race of Gauran, Aodh na Ard-fhlaith, which has been
loosely translated, "Hugh, the high king." The Gaelic Ard, as applied to
places, means high ; but, as applied to persons, signifies mighty, great, noble.
Hugh, the son of Eocha', appears to have merited the bardic epithet of great.
From this circumstance, as it is corroborated by events, we may perceive
thi-ough so many obscurities, that the feeble Eogan was hurled from his unstable
throne by the vigorous rivalry of the great Hugh (c). The Dalriaduiian tribes
in any of the genealogical chronicles of the Scottish kings, or even in any of the Iiish annals. Those
fictitious personages were surreptitiously abstracted from the genuine series of the Pictish kings ;
and from this obscure and scandalous parentage, and from the feigned and odious filiation of
the bard, did O'Flaherty, and the Enquirer, 1789, adopt this spurious progeny of poetic fiction,
instead of the real issue of chronicled veracity. Yet is it from this illegitimate source of bardic
imposition that the Enquirer, 1789, has boiTowed his system of Pictish conquests over Loarn ;
of Pictish kings for the Scoto-Irish, in the Dalriadinian districts ; and of the conquests of the
Picts over the Scots, rather than the conquest of the Scots over the Picts. O'Connor, vrho did
not dislike such flights of fiction in the regions of history, remarked that the derangements of the
Gaelic poem are visible from 719 to 895 a.d., and gave it as his opinion, that this part of the
poem must have been coriiipted and modernized. The Enquirer, 1789, declares even while he
adopts the bardic fictions, '• that many of the errors in the Gaelic poem must be the mistakes of the
"bard who composed it." Vol. ii., p. 328-9 ; and p. 109 ; where this writer delivers contradictory
judgments of the Gaelic poem and the ancient Chronicles. He tries to disparage the Chronicles
because they stood in the way of his system ; and he preferred the fictitious series in the poem,
because it better suited his purpose of a Pictish dynasty. To effectuate his point he is obliged to
interpolate the poetic series by adding four kings, three of whom he took from O'Flaherty and the
Chronicles, and the fourth, Doncorcai, he borrowed from the Dalriadae of Ireland ; and in the same
spirit of system he assigns to those kings arbitrary reigns of indefinite periods, without attention to
dates or wan-ant of authorities. Thus with his Harlequin's sword does system hew down into a chaos
of confusion annals and chronicles, dates and chronology, documents and authorities, events and facts,
consistency and truth. See the Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 12C-136.
(c) The veracious Chronicles and the Gaelic poem all concur in stating that Aodh-fin succeeded
Eogan in 739 a.d., and reigned thirty years ; and these coincidences are copied by O'Flaherty, Innes,
and the Enquirer, 1789. Though the Chi-onicles equally agree in the filiation of Aodh-fin, which is
confirmed by circumstances, by showing that Aodh-fin was the grandson of Eocha'-rineval, and a lineal
descendant of the stock of Fergus, yet doth system interpose to make Aodh-fm a Pictish prince, the
creature of the great Ungus, who, as we have seen, over-ran Loarn. System, in equal defiance of aU
the authorities, of every fact, and of various events, makes Ungus annihiliate both the prince and
people of Loarn (for Argyll and Kintyre he seems not to have Mtacked), and to place a Pictish prince
in the vacant throne. Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 129-30. Yet the Chronicles No. 4 and 5 in Innes's
App. distinctly state Aodh-fin as the son of Eocha'-rineval. The genealogy at the end of Chron. No. 4
in Innes's App. more correctly states Aodh-fin to have been the son of Eocha' HI., who was the son of
296 An ACCOUNT [Book ll.—T/,e Pictish Period.
had now at their head a sovereign, who was equal to the crisis of their affairs.
In 740 A.D., Hugh the Great met the mighty Ungus, the king of the Picts,
in a doubtful conflict. Such was the issue of this well-fought field, that those
able sovereigns seem to have declined such hostile collisions during their sub-
sequent disputes. Ungus, whose sword had borne victory on its edge, died
in 761 A.D. ; and the tide of success appears to have now turned in favour of
the Scots against the less fortunate Picts. In that age national power de-
pended more on the personal character of the princes than the general energies
of the people. During the reign of Ungus the Picts were transcendant. Dur-
ing the administration of Aodh-fin the Scots gained the superiority. Yet, of
that truth uncivilized tribes were unconscious ; and between these neighbour
nations, ill-will and enmity continued long to produce their consequences of
alternate attacks and subsequent repulses. The vigour of Aodh-fin at length
carried warfare into the heart of the Pictish territories. Hostility found his
destructive course, during those mutual conflicts, through the natural passages,
from Braid-Alban into Glenurchay and Upper-Loarn. By reversing this hostile
course Aodh-fin penetrated to Fortren, the Pictish capital in Strathearn, during
767 A.D. Here, with all his conduct and all his valour, he fought with
Ciniod the Pictish king a doubtful battle, which left him only the diflicult
alternative of ruin or retreat (d). The Picts had gathered round their cajaital
and king, and seizing the defiles of the mountains, had made it almost im-
possible for Aodh-fin to advance with success or to retreat with safety. By
great efforts of skill and bravery, he conducted, however, his warriors within
the passes of Upper-Loarn, where the Picts declined to follow him. He did not
long outlive this adventurous exploit. After a glorious reign of thirty years he
died in 767 a.d., leaving his sceptre, but not his sword, to his son Fergus (e).
Eocha'-rineval, wlio was the son of Domangart. Some of tlie Chronicles probably confounded the
father with the grandfather of Aodh-fin. But whether he was the son or the grandson of Eocha'-
rineval, he was alike the lineal descendant of Fergus through the race of Gauran, as the Genealogical
Table clearly shows.
{(l) For those conflicts, see the Ulster Annals in the several years 73G, 740, and 767.
(e) The year 769 is stated by Innes in his MS. Eccles. History as the epoch of the demise
of Aodh-fin. The Chronological Table evinces the same point. O'Flaherty, who had not the
benefit of Innes's Chronicles, mistakes this epoch of the demise of Aodh-fin. Ogygia, p. 481.
The Enquirer, 1789, who seems to have associated more with O'Flaherty than with Innes, places
the accession of Aodh-fin in 743 a.d. ; but this is a date of fabrication, as there is for it not one
authority. Aodh-fin is variously denominated by Chronicles Ed-albus and Eda-fin, Heth-fin and
Het-fin. He is called by Fordun, Etha-find ; by Wyntoun, Hed-white ; and by Buchanan,
Et-finus. O'Flaherty calls him Aod-fion, corruptly Ethfin. Aodh-fin denotes fair or u-hitehaired
Cli. Yl.—The Scots']. OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 297
Contemporary with Aodh-fin, there reigned over the Picts the great Ungus,
who died in 761; Bredei, wdio died in 763; and Ciniod, who governed till
775 A.D.; hut witli all the vigour and superiority of Aodh-fin, there still
ruled, according to the Irish polity, which has been already noticed, a regulus in
Argyll, and a prince in Lorn. In 746 A.D. died Dunlaing Mac-Dunchon, the
chief of the tribe of Ardgaill, say the Ulster Annals. Dunlaing was plainly the
son of the illustrious Duncha-beg, who died in 721. At the end of more than
half a century, Fiangalach, the son of Dunlaing, was slain in a civil war be-
tween the rival tribes of Ai'gyll and Loarn (/). These facts evince that this
enfeebling polity continued to distract and ruin the Dalriadinian kingdom, till
the final period of its wretched existence.
Fergus, the son of Aodh-fin, who was of the Fergusian race of Gauran,
succeeded his father in 769 a.d., and reigned three years {g). His character
was unessential. The shortness and unimportance of his reign left no events
for history to narrate, and no instruction for ethics to inculcate.
Selvach II., the son of Eogan, who was of the ambitious race of Loarn, suc-
ceeded Fergus in 772 a.d. The want of events during his inefficient govern-
ment, cast obscurity and unimportance on his reign of four-and-twenty
years {h). He ceased to govern in 796 A.D., when his sceptre was assumed by
a prince of a different lineage and of gi'eater fame.
Aodh. Aodli is a proper name both among tlie Irisli and tlie Scoto-Irish. O'Brien, Maedonald,
Gaelic Vocab. In English this name is Hugh, which is nearly the pronunciation of the Irish appel-
lation. The Ii-ish princes seem to have affected the name of Aodh. No fewer than five of the
supreme kings of Ireland from 572 to 820 a.d. were called Aodh. This name is latinized Aeda, and
Aldus. Usher Prim., p. 947 ; Ogygia, p. 4.31-3. It was improperly latinized by Ware Edanus.
Antiq. Hibern., p. 20-22.
(/) Annals of Ulster, sub An. 799.
(j) See the Chron. Table. AU the chronicles agree in giving Fergus II. a reign of three years.
Innes, in his MS. Eccles. Hist., states his death in 772 a.d. The Ulster Annals, indeed, state
the death of Fergus Mac-Echach, the king of Dalriada, in 780. If the annalist meant Fergus 11.,
who was king of the Dalriadae in Argyll, he certainly mistook the true epoch of his demise.
There is, in fact, no Eachach in the whole series of the Dalriadinian kings. Perhaps this Fergus
Mac-Eachach of the Ulster Annals was one of the reguli of Dalriadae in Ireland. In 791 a.d. the
same Annals record the death of Duncorcai, the King of Dalriadse. Now, the whole Scottish chronicles
reject such a king ; yet this Duncorcai, who was obviously one of the reguli of the Irish Dalriadae,
is thrust by the violence of system into the series of the Scottish kings. Enquiry, 1789, v. ii.,
p. 126-7.
{h) See the Chron. Table. All the chronicles agree that he reigned four-and-twenty years
from 772 a.d. Innes, in his MS. Eccles. Hist., places the demise of Selvach II. in 796 a.d.
Yet system, for its own purpose of anarchy, supposes that this Selvach H. may be Selvach L
Vol. I. Q q
298 AnAOCOUNT [Book ll.~T/ie Pictish Period.
Eocha'-annuine, the son of Aodh-fin, who was of the Gauran race of Fergus,
succeeded Selvach II. in 79G a.d. The Chronicle in the Register of St. An-
drews, gives him the soubriquet of annuine, and the Colbertine Chronicle the
epithet venenosus (i). Thus annuine is probably a corruption of the Irish nitnh-
neach, which, when applied to plants, signifies poisonous, but when applied to
persons, means peevish or passionate {k). Eocha' IV. is the Achaius of the Latin
annalists. As the clans were seldom at rest, he found probably, on his accession
to the Dalriadinian throne, a civil war raging between the tribe of Argyll and
the tribe of Loarn, which had perhaps proved fatal to his predecessor, Selvach.
These rival and exasperated families indulged their spirit, and tried their
strength in 799 A.D. Fiangalach, the son of Dunlaing, fell on the bloody
field ; Conal, the son of Neill, and Congalach, the son of Aongus, triumphed
over the tribe of Argyll (/). The feuds of the rival families could neither be
pacified nor restrained. Aongus, the son of Dunlaing, also met the usual fate
of savage strife in 812 a.d. («i). Eocha', the superior king, looked with in-
difference perhaps on those enfeebling feuds, which he probably foresaw would
end in the degradation of the two emulous tribes of Argyll and Loarn ; and
his interposition is never mentioned, because it was never felt. Of Eocha, the
Achaius of Fordun and Buchanan, fiction has feigned that he was ambitious
of foreign alliances. He is said by fablers to have courted the connection of
his great contemporary, Charlemagne, which was consolidated by a treaty of
doubtful existence. This fable was related and received in the last century
as a fact. In our own times it has been discussed and derided as a fiction,
though the fact may have applied to the reguli of a neighbouring region (n),
who died in 729 A.D., wlio Taa.y possibly have been misplaced by all the chronicles. Enquiry, 1789,
T. ii., p. 133, where the genuine chronology is called a clnldish falsificatiun. The Chron. Elegiaciim.
in the Chronicle of Melros, which is reprinted in the same Enquiry, p. 830, confirms the three
chronicles in Innes as to Selvach II. Thus the whole chronicles, which were early compiled
by different pens, are charged by system with " this pitiful forgery." The chronicles have assigned
to Selvach the various names of Selvac, Sealvanc, Sealuhanc ; by Wyntoun he is called Sewald ;
by Fordun, Selwathius ; by Buchanan, Solwathius ; by Tigernach, Selvachus. The proper Irish
name is Sealbhach ; and Sealbhuigh in the Irish signifies a proprietor or owner. O'Brien's Diet.
Sealbhach means abounding in cattle, or having many possessions, from Sealbh, signifying cattle,
possession. Id. 'We must always recoUect that (bh) in the Iiish grammar is pronounced like the
English (v).
{i) Innes's Appendix, No. 4 and 5. (k) O'Brien's Diet.
(/) Ulster Annals. (,«) Id.
(n) The late Lord Hailes published in 1773 "Remarks on the History of Scotland," wherein
he shows the supposed alliance of Achaius with Charlemagne to be a positive fiction. He was fol-
Chap. Yl.—The Scots']. 0 f N 0 E T H - B B I T A I N. 099
Fable also attributes to this alliance the origin of the well-known double tressure,
which ornaments the Scottish arms. To Achaius is moreover attributed, by-
heraldic fallacy, the institution of the most ancient order of the thistle (a). The
obscurity of the age of Achaius, and the deficiency both of record and of
annals, left a commodious field for fiction to occupy while in quest of adven-
tures, which might be embellished with any attributes and transmitted in any
fable. It was reserved for recent times to affiance criticism with history, which
is enabled by the union, not only to record events and to inculcate morals, but
to examine notices and appreciate characters. Achaius entei'ed into a real
league, which was of more importance to him, to his children, and to his
country. He married Urgusia, the daughter of Urguis, and the sister both of
Costantin, who ruled over the Picts from 791 to 821 a.d., and of Ungus, who
reigned from 821 to 830 (p). This natural alliance enabled Kenneth, the son
of Alpin, the son of Achaius, to claim and acquire the Pictish sceptre as the
grandson of Urgusia. Achaius died in 826 a.d., after a prosperous reign of
thirty years, (q).
lowed in the same year by the late Lord Elibank with counter remarks, wherein he says, " It would
" be hard to strip the Scots of the ostentation of this alliance, because that silly declaimer, Hector
"Boece, has made it the groundwork of fable." Neither of those writers seems to have known that
the very learned Schoepflin had already decided this controversy against the pretensions of the Scottish
Achaius in favour of some Irish reguli, and had incidentally freed the Scottish kings from the scandal
of obeying the will of the munificent Charlemagne for money. Commentationes Historicse, 1751, p.
392. As system, by following the foolish fictions of the Gaelic poem, had excluded from the true
series of the Scottish kings this Achaius IV., the same spirit of innovation has assigned over this
diplomatic fable to Achaius III., who died in 733, though Charlemagne died in 814 a.d. Such is the
absurdity of system while in pursuit of something new, either for the purpose of theory or for the
ends of anarchy! See the Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 123.
(0) Nisbet's Heraldry, v. ii., p. 114. The order of the Thistle was probably established by James
V. in 1534, obscured by the reformers, and re-established by James VII. in 1687. Hktoire cles Ordres
Ediyieux et Militaires ; Paris, 1719, torn. 8, p. 388. The double tressure of the Scottish armouries
is probably of modern origin. See the Works of Armorie, 1597, p. 41. See, however, the title-page
of Bellenden's Boece, 1541, which consists of the armorial bearings of Scotland most heraldically dis-
played. Herein may be seen the double tressure, with the fleurs de lis, the collar of the order of the
Thistle, with St. Andrew on his cross appendant.
{p) Innes's MS. Eccles. Hist. ; and Grit. Essay, p. 141 ; and for this curious fact he quotes the
Scottish historians, from Fordun and Boece to Lesley and Buchanan. Probability and events establish
the fact with more conviction than the mere assertion of uncritical historians.
iq) See the Chron. Table. All the chronicles concur in saying that Eooha'-annuine was the son of
Aodh-fin ; that he succeeded Selvach II. in 796, and reigned thirty years. O'Flaherty has given
Eocha' IV. his appropriate place in the series of the Scottish kings ; and from Irish authorities he shows
him to have been the son of Aodh-fin. By giving Eocha' IV. this filiation, he confirms the Scottish
chronicles, which he had never seen. Usher mistakingly states the demise of Eocho' IV., on the
authority of Boece, in 819, instead of 826 a.d. Primord., p. 715, 1173.
Qq2
300 AnACCOUNT [Book II.— The Pictish Period.
Dunoal, the son of Selvach II., who was of the race of Loam, succeeded
Eocha IV. or Achaius. Dungal is the last of this powerful family who go-
verned the Dalriadinian territories. The unimportance of his reign, arising from
the insignificance of his chai-acter, has bequeathed no events to history, nor any
instruction to government. He relinquished his sceptre to a different race in
833 A.D., after a feeble reign of seven years (r). The Gaelic bard has spoken of
this prince, as flaith Dungal den, King Dungal, the brown ; but Den is pro-
bably a mistake for Donn, which would, indeed, signify in the Irish dun, or
brown complexioned. If we might suppose what is more likely, that the bard
applied to Dungal the epithet Din, this would convey the idea of pleasant or
agreeable.
Alpin, the son of Urgusia, and of Eocha'-aunuine lY., who was of the Fergusian
race of Gauran, succeeded Dungal in 833 (s) ; yet has the filiation of Alpin
been recently disputed against the clearest evidence by system, for the purpose
of innovation. The undoubted descent of Alpin may be traced, however, from
Fergus, the son of Ere, on the obvious information of the whole genealogical
authorities. The annexed Table will exhibit to the eye, and impress upon the
understanding of the reader, the true genealogy of the Scoto-Irish kings, as well
those of the race of Fergus, which separated into the two families of Comgal
and Gauran, as those of the race of Loarn, who came into the succession in the
sixth descent.
(;■) In tlie epoch of tlae accession of Dungal and the length of his reign, all the chronicles concur
as well as the Gaelic poem ; and this concurrence is adopted by Innes, by O'Flaherty, who mis-
places him after Muredach, and by the Enquirer, 1789, who mistakes his filiation, as if he could be
the son of Selvach I. that died in 729 a.d. But system again interposes in order to promote its own
objects. For this unlawful end it accuses the veracious chronicles of making this Dungal, the last of
the Loam kings, the same as Dungal the son of Selvach I., who was put in chains in 739 [736 a.d.].
Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 134. But the chronicles make no such interpolation as the charge against
them supposes. They do not so much as mention Dungal the son of Selvach I., because this Dungal
was never king.
(«) All the ancient chronicles concur in stating that Alpin the son of Eocha'-annuine succeeded
Dungal in 833 a.d. Innes's App. The filiation and descent of Alpin, which are so distinctly stated
in the ancient chi-onicles, is expressly confirmed by O'Flaherty, who had not the lights of these chroni-
cles, and di-ew up his genealogical series from the Irish authorities. Ogygia, p. 481 ; and Ogygia
Vindicated, p. 117. Thus the genuine chronicles evince Alpin to have been the son of Eocha'-annuine
IV., the son of Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha' III., the son of Eocha' -rineval, the son of Domangart, the
son of Donald-breac, the son of Eocha'-bui, the son of Aidan, the son of Gauran, the son of Doman-
gart, who was the son of Fergus.
Ch. VI.— The Scots.^
Of NOETH-BEITAIN.
301
A GENEALOGICAL TABLE, showing the several descendants of Ere, the common progenitor of
those princes who held the Scoto-Irish sceptre from a.d. 503 to 843 ; and exhibiting the three
distinct races who niled over the Dah-iadinian territories during that long period.
Erc, the sou of Eocha, died in 474 a.d.
LoARN, the son of Ere, reigned
contemporaneously with Fer-
gus, and his progeny furnished
the nine following kings to
the Scoto-Irish.
9. Feechae I., the Son of Eogan,
and the si.\th in descent from
Loarn, reigned from 621 to 637.
12. D0NGAL began to reign with
Conal II., anno 642.
I
15. Feechae-fada, the grandson
of Ferchar I., reimed from
anno 681 to 702. ^
I -'
6
17. AlNBHCEALACH, the son of
Ferchar - fada, reigned from
anno 705 to 706.
I
18. Selvach, the son of Ferchar-
fada, reigned from anno 706 to
729 1
21. MuEEDACH, the son of Ain-
bhcealach, reigned from 733 to
736.
22. EoGAN, the son of Muredaoh,
reigned from 736 to 739.
25. Selvach II., the son of Eogan,
reigned from 772 to 796.
I
27. DuNGAL, the son of Selvach II.
reigned from 826 to 833.
Angus, the son of
Erc.
1. Feegus, the son of Erc, reigned from
503 to 506 A.D.
I
2. DoMANGAET, the son of Fergus, reigned
from 506 to 511.
I
3. CoMGAL, the son of Doman-
gart, reigned from 511 to 535.
I
5. CoNAL, the son of Comgal,
reigned from 557 to 571.
11. Conal II., the grandson of
Conal I., reigned from 642 to
652. I
13. DoNALD-DUiN, the son of Co-
nal II. , reigned from 652 to 665.
14. Maolduin, the son of Conal
II., reigned from 665 to 681.
19. DuNCHA-BEO, the son of Dom-
nal, the grandson of Conal, and
the great - grandson of Maol-
duin,;reigned over Kintyre and
Argyll, while Selvach reigned
over Loam ; and died 720 a.d.
4. GAnRAN, the son of Domangart,
reigned from 535 to 557.
* ,
6. AiDAN, the son of Gauran,
reigned from 57 1 to 605.
7. Eocha'-bui, the son of Aidan,
reigned from 605 to 621.
. Kenneth-cear, the son of
Eocha'-bui, reigned 3 months,
anno 621. |
10. Donal-breac, the son of
Eoeha'-bui, reigned from 637
to 642. I
16. Eocha'-rineval, the son of
Domangart, and the grandson
of Donal-breac, reigned from
702 to 705. I
20. Eocha' III., the son nf Eocha'-
rineval, reigned from 720 to 733.
I
23. AoDH-FiN, the son of Eocha'
III., reigned from 739 to 769.
24. Fergus II., the son of Aodh-
fin, reigned from 769 to 772.
26. Eocha'-annuine, the son of
Aodh-fin, reigned from 796 to
826. I
28. Alpin, the son of Eocha'-
annuine, reigned from 833 to
836. I
I
29. Kenneth, the son of Alpin,
reigned over the Scots from
836 to 843.
302 AnAOCOUNT [Book II— The Pictish Period.
Alpin probably derived his name, which has obscured history and misled
inquiry, from his mother Urgusia, a Pictish princess {t). Over the Plots
reio'ned contemporary with Alpln, Drest the son of Constantin, his cousin,
and Talargan, who disputed Constautln's authority. Alpin would naturally
support his relation, who appears to have prevailed over his antagonist. The
sati-acity of Alpln seems to have perceived the weakness of his neighbours
beyond the Clyde, and his ambition appears to have prompted a desire to reign
over richer people and more extensive domains. In 836 A.D. he set sail from
Klntyre, and landed on the coast of Kyle within the bay of Ayr. According to
the odious practice of a savage age, he laid waste the country between the Ayr
and Doon, before the people and their chiefs could meet him in conflict. Fol-
lowing the course of those rivers he penetrated to the ridge which separates Kyle
from Galloway, and here he me*t his appropriate fate, during a sharp struggle,
from the obscure weapon of an enraged chief near the site of Laicht-castle,
which derived its singular name from the stone of Alpin. His grave-stone was
still known and recognized three centuries and a half after he had finished
his career, and left his claims to his more fortunate successor (u). Yet is Alpin
(t) In addition to the Soottisli clironicles and Irish authorities before mentioned, the filiation of
Alpin is confirmed by the genealogy at the end of the Colbertine Chronicle, in Innes's App., p. 795 ;
and by the genealogy which was repeated by the bard, at the Coronation of Alexander III.,
in 1249. Major, p. 151. The same filiation is confirmed by another genealogy, which was drawn
up in the reign of David I., who died in 1153. Malcolm's Col., p. 3. The Chronicon of Dunblane,
which is quoted in Innes's MS. Col., concurs with all these authorities. O'Flaherty intimates,
indeed, that the genealogy of David I. up to Fergus the son of Ere, is still to be found in the
well-known book of Leoan, in Trinity College, Dublin. Ogygia Vindicated, p. 141-147. The
Scottish historians, from Fordun to Buchanan, agree in making Alpin the son of Eocha'-annuine,
the son of Aodh-fln : and see the stemmas, or Genealogical Trees, No. iii. and iv. in Lesley's Hist.,
Eom. Edit. Add to all those invincible authorities the Chronicon Elegiaoum, in the Chronicle
of Melrose, which concurs with them, in Gale, v. i., p. 595, and republished in the Enquiry, 1789,
V. ii., p. 330. Yet the author of this Enquiry asserts that "the name of the father of Alpin, the
father of Kenneth, is lost beyond all recovery." lb., p. 132. Here system again interposes to annihi-
late, by a stroke of theory, the obvious genealogy of Alpin, in order to let in the novelty of a Pictish
succession. For this perversion all authorities are hewn down by the magic of prejudice ; all history
is by it perverted ; events are displaced, and facts perverted ; and, by this ovei-powering necromancy,
the veracious chronicles are transformed into cltildish falsifications, and the real genealogies mio pitiful
forgeries. lb., p. 133-35.
(w) With regard to the time, place, and circumstance of the death of Alpin, the last of the
Scoto-Irish kings, two accounts have been given : one of fact, and another of fiction. (1.) That
Alpin died in 836 a.d., after a reign of three years, the ancient chronicles seem generally to agree.
(2.) The Register of St. Andrews is the most ancient voucher for the death of Alpin in Gallo-
way, after much devastation : '• Alpin fil. Heoghed-annuine 3 an : Hie occisus est in Gallewathia,
Ch. YL.—The Scots.-] 0 f N OE T H - B E I T A I N . 303
supposed by Scottish history, to have fallen in asserting his title to the Pictish
"postquam earn penitus destruxit et devastavit." Tirnes's App., p. 798. The Chronicon of Dunblane,
which belonged to Professor Ker of Aberdeen, and which is recited by Innes, in his MS. Collections,
says : " Alpin fil. Heoohed-annuine 3 an. regnavit rex ; et occisus est in Galivithia postquam earn
penitus devastavit : Et tunc translatum est regnum Scotorum in regnum Piotorum." Wyntoun, who
had plainly his eye on the Eegister of St. Andrews, says of Alpin :
" He wan of ware all Galloway ;
" There, was he slayne, and dede away :
" Aught hundyr w3mter fourty and thre
" Aftyr the blyst nativitie."
Fordun, book iv., ch. ii., mentions the death of Alpin, but not the place where that event happened.
Major also mentions the death of Alpin, but not the place of his interment. 4to ed., p. 18. We
come now to the evidence of record. The foundation charter of the town of Ayr by William, in 1197,
when describing the limits of its exclusive trade, calls for Lacht- Alpin, the stone or grave of Aipin, as
one of the distinguishing boundaries. Lacht-Ah^va gave rise to the name of an estate, after the Scoto-
Irish language, in which XeacAi-Alpin signifies the grave-stone of Alpin, was no longer understood in
Ayrshire ; and hence the names in Bleau's map of Ayrshire, No. 19, of Laicht-oasile, Over-Laichf,
and Nether-iai!c7i<, in the parish of Dalmellington. These most significant names were left out of the
late map of the same shire by Armstrong ; but upon inquiry at the place, I find that those expressive
appellations, which will never be forgotten, are now perfectly known. A letter, from an intelligent
friend in Dalmellington, informs me : " There are still the remains of an old castle at a place called
" Laicht, in this parish, about two miles north-north-west of this village : It was much demolished by
"the proprietor in the year 1771, in order to enclose some ground: It stands on the brink of a very
" deep glen, and was of great strength ; and the workmen had much difficulty in demolishing it : There
" are two farms there that still bear the name of Over, and Nether, Laicht." The same intelligent
friend remarks that there is in the parish a tradition of a battle having formerly been fought in that
vicinity. The late Mr. Macmyne, the minister of Dalmellington, relates, in his Statistical Account,
" that there are some cairns, or tumuli, in the parish, which indicate that a battle had been at some
time there fought." Another very intelligent friend has assured me that there is, near the village of
Dalmellington, a remarkable barrow of a very perfect fonn. Thus the Eegister of St. Andi-ews. the
Charter of Ayr, which calls for the grave-stone of Alpin as a well-known boundary, the old castle
of Laicht, the tradition of a conflict, the remaining tumuli, all concur to show the remarkable place
where Aljjiu, the father of Kenneth, found repose from the turmoils of savage life, and left a
grave-stone to perpetuate the remembrance of the fact. (2.) On the contrary, fiction, in the per-
son of Boece, recounts a very different tale. Bellenden's Boece, fo. 89. The death of Alpin is
said to have happened in a battle with the Picts near Dundee, where he was taken and beheaded.
This story is retold by Buchanan, and by the other perverters of the Scottish history, down to
Guthrie. The Statistical Account of Liff parish, wherein the battle is supposed to have been
fought, near a place called Pit-alpif, and in former times Bas-alpin, gives its additional testimony.
The £as-alpin, we are to understand, signifies, in the Irish language, the death of Alpin. Now
the fact is, that Elpin reigned along with Drest over the Picts, from 725 to 730, when a civil
war raged with great violence among that people. To this warfare Drest fell a victim in 728 ; and
304 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book Yi.—The Pktish Period.
throne after the death of his cousin Uven, in right of his mother Urgusia (,r).
But this supposition is inconsistent with events, and is rejected by chronology.
The succession to Uven did not open to Alpin, as he fell in 839, three years
before the demise of Uven in 839 a.d.
Kenneth, the son of Alpin, succeeded his father in 836 a.d. The Gaelic
bard characterizes this prince as Chionaoith Chruaidh, Kenneth, the hardy.
His enterprize evinces that the vigour of his mind was properly supported by
the hardihood of his body. His several invasions on the south of the Clyde,
sliow what probability suggests, that he severely avenged the fate of his fa-
ther (a). He seems to have depressed to their proper level the races of Argyll
and Loarn, which were already weakened by civil war. Nor was he inattentive
to the conflicts among the Picts beyond Drum-Alban. While oppressed by
their feebleness, the natui-al efi;ects of their civil conflicts, the Pictish people
were at this period harassed by the invasions of the Danish Vikingr (b) ;
and the demise of Kenneth's relation, Uven, the Pictish king, after a disti'acted
reign of three years, opened the prospect of his succession in 839 a.d. The
view, however, of Kenneth, to the succession of his grandmother Urgusia,
was obstructed by Wred, the son of Bargoit, who retained the Pictish sceptre
during three disastrous years (c). But the enterprize and power and valour
of Kenneth wrested that ancient sceptre from the feeble hand of Wred, the
last of the Pictish kings, in 843 a.d., after Kenneth had reigned over the Scots
seven active years (d). Yet has system supposed that the Picts rather sub-
dued the Scots than were subdued by their Scoto-Irish rivals. For this theory
tradition is contradicted, history is opposed, and truth is outraged. There are
two moral certainties which forbid the adopting of this theory, or the believing
after several bloody battles, in wbioh Elpin and his party were worsted, he at last fell before the supe-
rior force of Ungus, in 730 a.d., at a place in the parish of Liff, in Forfarshire, which, from that
circumstance, has been named Bas-elpin, and Pit-elpie. See the Hist, of the Picts, ch. i., p. 196. It
is thus apparent that Boece, Bellenden, Buchanan, and other fablers, have confounded the Pictish
Elpin, who fell in 730 a.d. at Bas-Elpiii, in Forfarshire, with the Scoto-Irish Alpin, who fell, more
than a century afterwards, at Laicht-Alpin in Ayrshire.
{x) Innes's Grit. Essay, p. 141.
(a) The Colbertine Chron. in Innes's Grit. Essay, p. 783; Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 160.
(b) Ulster Annals. And see Book iii., ch. i.
(c) The Pictish Chronicle, in Innes's Grit. Ess., p. 781-2, 801 ; Register of St. Andiews, in Innes,
p. 798 ; Ghron. Eyth. in Innes, p. 812-13.
(fZ) Chron. Table. The ancient chronicles concur in this length of reign ; and Innes has fol-
lowed them, in his Chronica Accurata, The Gaelic Poem extends the reign of Kemieth over the
Scots and Picts to thirty years. O'Flaherty restrains this elongation to twenty years ; to four
Ch. Yl.— The Scots.-] 0 f N 0 R T H - B E I T A IN. 305
of that system ; it is morally certain that the language which was spoken by
the people on the north of the Clyde and Forth was Cambro-British, till the
close of the Pictish period in 843 A.D. ; it is also morally certain that the
prevailing language within the same countiy, throughout the Scottish jaeriod
from 843 to 1097 A.D., was the Scoto-Irish, the speech of Kenneth and his
people (e).
Such is the genuine history of the Scoto-Irish kings of Kintyre, Argyll, and
Loarn ! It is a sort of historical miniature of the annals of their Irish progeni-
tors ; and the events which compose the history of both, are the necessary
consequences of the polity that had governed the people of both from the
most early period of the Scottish history. The sovereignty of the kingdom of
Ireland was subdivided into a pentarchy, which left four provincial kings to dis-
pute the monarchy of the fifth {/). This pentarchy existed, certainly, before
the epoch of the Irish emigration to North-Britain. From such a form of go-
vernment, during savage times, what could be the consequences but civil war,
frequent assassinations, and perpetual anarchy (g) ! The Scoto-Irish colonists
appear to have introduced within the Dalriadinian kingdom, a similar constitu-
tion. The Jlaiths, or princes of three races, constantly contended with the
general sovereign for superiority or exemption ; and the Dalriadinian history
is little more than the instructive narrative of their contests and changes, of
their bloody conflicts and their wretched confusions. In the succession, both
of the kings and of the chieftains, the dlighe-tanaiste, or law of Tanistry, ap-
over tlie Scots, and sixteen years over the Picts. The name of this powerfiol prince is Kinedus in the
Chronicle No. 4 in Innes's Appendix, Cinacha in the Genealogy No. 4 in the same Appendix, Kinath
in the Chron. No. 5, Kinadius in the Pictish Chronicle, Chionaoith in the Gaelic Poem, Kenethus in
Fordun ; and Kennethus in Buchanan. This is obviously the same name as Kenneth-cear before-men-
tinned, though system supposes thorn to be different. This name, under different forms, is both Pictish
and Scottish ; yet system, in support of an absurd theory, maintains this appellation to be Gothic.
Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 163.
(e) See Book iii.. ch. xi., for proofs of those moral certainties. The Scots I have found, while
searching the chartularies, in the very act of changing the Pictish language within the Pictish
dominion. When we see the Scots substitute their own Inver for the British Abcr. both the words
signifying the same thing, it is a demonstration that the Cambro-British speech preceded the
Scoto-Irish.
(/) Leland's Hist. Prelim. Dis., p. 7. Cotr/e in Irish signifies the Jtfth part of any thing. Hence
C'oiffe became the term for province, because L'eland was divided into five territories or provinces,
so " Cuig coige na Heirion," the five provinces of Ireland. O'Brien, in Vo. Coige. The subsequent
fact of there being five provinces till recent times evinces the previous policy of ancient ages, which we
see confii-med in the very language of the old Irish people ; so also Coiye-adliach means a provincial.
O'Brien, in Vo.
(g) See Cox's Apparatus to the History of Leland.
Vol. I. E r
306 AnACCOUNT Book II.— [T/zc PictUh Period.
pears to have been generally followed. The person in the family, whether a
son or a brother, who seemed best qualified, either from abilities or experi-
ence to exercise authority, was fixed upon by tlie tribe for the succession to
the sovereign or the chief. It is apparent, however, from the history both of
Ireland, and of Argyll, that during the life of the reigning king an heir pre-
sumptive was chosen under the name of Taniste, who commanded the army dur-
ing the monarch's life, and succeeded him after his demise, according to the
established law (h). Much of the dignity of the monarch was supported by
the voluntary contributions of the princes and chiefs, which were paid in
cattle, in clothes, and utensils. The monarch was obliged to purchase the sup-
port and service of the princes and chiefs by similar presents. For these
they entertained the sovereign in his journeys, and served him in his wars, at
least, during a stated period (0- In civil compacts, which were so feeble and
admitted of so much cavil, we may perceive what the history of the two people
evinces — the imbecility of the sovereign, and the weakness of the society ; the
king could scarcely enforce domestic quiet, and the people were hardly able to
repel foreign invasions {k).
A similar polity appears to have pervaded all ranks among the Irish people,
from the king to the prince, and from the prince to the chieftain, both in Ire-
land and in Scotland. The toparch governed his district as the monarch
governed his kingdom, and the chieftains ruled their territories and their
raths, or fortified villages, upon the same principles of mutual dependence of
the higher on the lower ranks, and of the subordinate on the superior (Z). Such
brittle ties wei-e easily broken, and during rude times, when the voice of law
was but faintly heard, the performance of those reciprocal duties could only be
induced by assassination, or the breach of them punished by the sword.
In the meantime, such was the law of Gavil-kind, which the original planters
had carried with them from Britain, that the tenure of lands throughout the
(A) Ware's Antiq., p. 70 ; O'Brien's Diet, in Vo. Tanaiste. Sir Eicliard Cox indeed asserts that
the kings and chiefs did not succeed either by descent or election, but by force ; so that the title of
most of them is founded on the murder of his predecessor. Hist. Apparatus. See Holland's
Camden in Ireland, p. 120, wherein it appears that, according to the law of Tanistry, the possessor
could not resign his rights or his name, which he possessed only during his own life, without
the consent of the tribe ; that a man at full years was to be preferred before a boy, and an uncle before
that nephew whose grandfather survived the father. The custom of Tanistry was the common law
of Ireland before the conquest by Henry II. Davis's Eeports in the case of Tanistry, p. 101. These
principles were insisted on by John O'Neal, the famous rebel, before Sir Henry Sydney, the Lord
.Tustice of Ireland. We see also much of such notions and practices in the history of the Dalriadinian
kings and princes.
(i) Lei. Prelim. Disc, xxvi. {k) lb., xxvii. (/) lb., xxviii.
Ch. Yl.—T/ie Scots.'] OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 307
country, determined with the life of the possessor (m). This law, under various
modifications, continued to distract and barbarize the Irish till the late period
of king James's settlement (ft). A similar custom may be traced among the
Scoto-Irish people of Argyll till more recent times.
The Irish women, of whatever rank, seem not to have been entitled even to
the slightest possession of land under the Brehon law (o). They were assigned
a certain number of their father's cattle as their marriage portion, which, in
the Irish speech, is called Spre, that literally means cattle; crodh also signifies
both cattle and dowry, which, in those times and in those countries, were
synonymous (p). We shall see in our progress a very notable instance of this
Brehon doctrine as to women among the Scoto-Irish. The Galloway-men uni-
versally rose in support of the pretensions of a bastard-son, in opposition to the
claims of three legitimate daughters of their late lord, and it required all the
power and all the valour of Alexander II., to enforce his opinion of law and
right against the custom, and, perhaps, the privilege of the men of Galloway (g).
The herds of the Irish were so frequently within their contemplation,
because, during a rude state of society, their flocks supplied so many
comforts, that the Irish terms, Sealhh and Seilbh. which signify i)ossessio7i,
a Jield, also convey the idea of a herd or drove (r). The Irish had
another law term, Toich, which at once signified territory, land, pro-
perty, and natural right ; whence we may infer that the Irish jurisprudence
did not much arise from positive institute. This intimation may be further
strengthened by a consideration of the Irish word Guath, which signifies
equally a manner, a custom, a statute (s). Yet such is the copiousness of the
Irish language, that it has a great variety of terms which convey the notion of
a law (t) ; but we may infer from those law terms, with their several modi-
(m) Id., O'Brien's Diet., in Vo. Gabhail-eine.
(rt) Sir John Davis's Eeports, the case of Tanistry ; Cox's Hist, the Apparatus ; wherein he well
explains the material differences between the custom of gavel-kind in Kent, and the same custom in
Ireland. Valiancy has been studious to show that the practice of gavel-kind, or the Brohon-law, ex-
tended to several other countries. Collectanea de Eeb. Hibern., v. i.
(o) It was found by the Jury, in the case of Tanistry, that by this law the lands ought to descend
to the eldest and most worthy of the blood and name of the Tanist ; but that the daughters were not
inheritable to such lands. Davies's Eeports, p. 78.
{p ) O'Brien's Diet., in Vo. Spre', and Crodh.
(q) Lord Hailes's Ann., v. i., p. 152. It is a well known fact, in the municipal law of Scotland,
that in those times Galloway was governed by its own proper laws. See Skene's old laws. Such being
the law it follows that the Galloway men were right, and Alexander II. was wrong ; the bastard son
having a more legal title.
(?) O'Brien's Diet, in Vo. (s) lb. in Vo.
{t) lb. Sub. Adh ; Dlighe ; Dleachd ; Eeachd ; Foras ; Dior ; Bann ; Iiis ; Airilleadh ; Dual ; Ach-
ter Aehd ; Adhailgne, the law military.
Er2
308 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book U.—Tfie Pktix/t Period.
fications, that the Irish people had httle of positive statute or written law, their
whole body of jurisprudence consisting almost entirely of traditionary customs and
local usages (u). It was no written latv, saith Cox, it was only the will of the
Brehon or the lord {x) ; and it is observable, he adds, as their Brehons, or
judges, like their physicians, bards, harpers, poets, and historians, had their
offices by descent and inheritance, we may be sure, said he, that these here-
ditary judges and doctors were but very sad tools. The Brehon or judge,
when he administered justice, used to sit on a turf or heap of stones, or on
the top of a hillock, without a covering, and without clerks, or, indeed, with-
out any formality of a court of judicature [y). This state of law and condi-
tion of manners may be traced among the Scoto-Irish in Scotland till recent
times. Every Baron had his motehill, whence justice was distributed to his
vassals by his baron-bailie. Under the Brehon system all crimes were com-
muted. Theft, rapes, and murder, were punished by a fine, which was called
Eric. This term of Brehon law signified an amercement, a fine, a ransom, a
forfeit, and also a reparation ; this last meaning is probably the original impoi't
of the word, as the principle of this rude jurisprudence was directed to the re-
paration, rather than the prevention of crimes (2). The mulct or Eric was
among the Albanian Scots, called Cro', saith Ware (a). The Regiam majesta-
tem of the Scottish law hath a whole chapter setting forth " the Cro of ilk
" man, how mikil it is."(?>)
It was an ancient custom of the Irish, which was called the custom o{ Kincogish,
and which is, that every head of every sept, and every chief of every clan, should
be answerable for every one of their sejst or kindred, when he should be charged
with any crime (c). This also was an ancient custom among the Scoto-Irish ;
(m) Cox's Apparatus to his Histoiy.
(x) The case of Tanistry might have shown Cox that this was the comniun law of Ii'eland before the
conquest.
(y) lb. Harris's Ware, p. 70. — In North-Britain the baronial courts used to be held, till late times,
on motehills and bridges.
(£) Han-is's Ware, p. 70 ; Cox's Apparatus ; Lei. Pref. Disc, p. 20.
(a) Harris's Ware, p. 71 ; and see Skene, de Verb. Significatione, in Vo.
(6) Lib. iv., cap. xxiv. : Skene hath grossly interpolated this chapter. He begins it by saying " It
is statute be the king ; " whereas, in the Bern MSS. of the age of Ed. I., instead of this purview, the
law sets forth the Cro of the King himself: " Pro le Eoi d'Ecosse est mille vaches, u treis mill ores
" c'etascavoir, tres ores chaque vaohe." The cro of the king of Scots is a thousand cows, or three thou-
sand oras, that is to say, three oras for every cow ; and this was undoubtedly the law of the ancient
Irish and Scoto-Lish. Even by a statute of William the lion : •• Give ane slaies anie man, he shall
" give twenty-nine kye, and ane young kow ; and make peace with the friends of the defunct, conforme
"to the law of the countrie." Skene's Stat, of King William, ch. vi.
(c) Spenser's View of Ireland.
Cli. Xl.—The Scots.'] 0 F N 0 R T H - B E I T A I N. 309
and it is remarkable that both in Ireland and in Scotland, this ancient custom
was adopted into the statute book of both those countries, from the usefulness
of the custom to the end.
The protection of bees was a great head of the Brehon law. Ireland was very
fully peopled by this industrious race, and their honey supplied abundance of
mead, the peculiar beverage of the ancient Britons, while the Irish husbandry
did not yet provide corn for the distillery of aqua vitcB (d) North-Britain still
produces heather-honey for the breakfast of the rich as well as for the physic of
the poor.
In vain do the Irish antiquaries give us splendid pictures of the learning, the
opulence, and the refinement of the ancient Irish. The laws of every people are
the truest histories of their domestic afiliirs. While we see that the wealth of
the Irish tribes consisted of their bees, and their cattle, we may certainly infer
that they had only advanced from the first to the second stage of society, from
being hunters to being feeders of flocks (e). In this unrefined state the Scoto-
Irish long continued, as we may learn from their rent-rolls.
Were the lives of saints, during the period of saints, searched for traits of
manners, several intimations might be found that would exhibit many new
modes of thinking, and many novel habits of life. The biography of St. Columba,
the abbot of lona, has been ransacked with these views. It is apparent that
more of wretchedness arising from penury than of comfort, prevailed through-
out the Dalriadinian districts in every rank of society. Their best houses were
built of wattles, and of these slight and rude materials was built the abbey
of lona, whence issued for ages the precepts of instruction and the habits
of austerity to a rude people. The kings, and perhaps some of the chieftains,
had streng-ths wherein they lived and whence they tyrannized. During the
sixth and seventh centuries they had in Loarn, Dun-oUa, Duna, and Creic,
which were besieged and burnt. Buildings of lime and stone, either among
the Irish or Scoto-Irish, were therefore late works of more intelligent times (/).
The clothing even of the monks were the skins of beasts, though they had
woollen, and linen, which they knew how to obtain from abroad by means
of trafiic. The variegated plaid was introduced in later times. Venison and
(d) Lei. Hist. Prelim. Disc, p. 30 ; Vallency's Col. Hibern.
(«) Cox's Apparatus. " Even since the conquest," saitli this historian, " the Irish paid the king's
" revenue in cows for want of money.'' In North Britain the king's revenue was also paid in cows as
low down as the accession of Robert Bruce. Neither Celtic Ireland nor Celtic Scotland had coins of
their own mintage, and very few indeed of any mintage.
(/) Cox's Apparatus ; Ledwich's Antiquities ; Transactions Edin. Eoy. Society.
310 An ACCOUNT [Book ll.—T/ie FictM Period.
fish, and seals, and milk, and flesh, were the food of the people. The monks
of lona, who lived by their labour, had some provision of corn, and perhaps
the chiefs, who lived in strengths. But it is to be recollected that the monks
were everywhere for ages the improvers themselves, and the instructors of
others in the most useful arts. They had the merit of making many a blade
of grass grow where none grew before. Even lona had orchards during the
rugged times of the ninth century, till the Vikingr brutishly ruined all. What-
ever the Scoto-Irish enjoyed themselves, they were very willing to impart to
others. The most unbounded hospitality was enjoined by law and by manners
as a capital virtue (g). Manufactures the Scoto-Irish had none ; and every
family had its own carpenter, weaver, tailor and shoemaker, however un-
skilful and inadequate to the uses of civilization (h). The division of labour
and of arts takes place only during periods of refinement.
Of shipping, every age must have had the benefit of some kind. The float
was the most obvious. The Britons and their immediate descendants both in
Scotland and in Ireland, used canoes, as we have seen. The next step in
the art of ship-building was the making of currachs both in Britain and in
Ireland. These were formed by covering a keel of wood and a frame of
wicker with the skins of cattle and of deer. The currachs were, by expe-
rience, improved into roomy vessels either for transport or war. In currachs
the first colonists must have emigrated from Ireland to Kintyre. The enter-
prizing Aidan performed his various expeditions, either of negotiation or
hostility, in currachs. In them the fate of the kingdoms of Kintyre and
Loarn was decided in a naval action during the year 717, as we have seen
in the history of their civil wars.
From that history it is apparent that every chieftain exercised, by whatever
power, the right of making war and peace. Hence sprung the civil feuds
which desolated for ages, and barbarized the Scoto-Irish territories. From
their mutual enmities proceeded perhaps the custom which existed among the
Scoto-Irish as well as the old Irish of giving a nickname to every pei'son of any
note. But it was only the cliief of the clan who enjoyed the privilege of
being called O'Neal, O'Brien, Macdonald, Macleod (i). Much of this practice
we have perceived in the epithets which were uniformly annexed to the names
of the Scoto-Irish king's.
o
(r/) See Lei. Hist. Prel. Disc, xxviii. ; Martin's Western Islands, Pennant's Tours, Johnson's Journey
to tlie Western Islands.
{h) See Adamnan's Life of Columba, and tlie Reverend Dr. Smith's collection from it, in Stat.
Account, vol. X., p. 543.
(;') Cox's Apparatus ; Harris's Ware, p. 55-9.
Ch.Yl.— The Scots.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 311
Of the various practices of the ancient Irish, the custom o£ fosterage has been
regarded as a subject for particular speculation (k). By this singular custom,
which equally prevailed among the Scoto-Irish till recent times, children were
mutually given, from different families, to be by strangers nursed and bred.
The lower orders considered this trust as an honour rather than a service, for
which an adequate rewai'd was either given or expected. The attachment of
those, who were thus educated, is said to have been indissoluble ; for there is
no love in the world comparable, saith Camden, by many degrees, to that of
foster-brethren in Ireland (I). From this practice arose connection of family
and union of tribes, which often prompted, and sometimes prevented civil
feuds (m).
The sons of Ere, with their Dalriadic colonists, were undoubtedly christians,
at the epoch of their emigration to North-Britain. They seem not to have been
actuated by motives either of religion or superstition. The saint of their
idolatry, however, was Ciaran, a person of great note, who founded the abbey
of Clonmacnois on the Shannon, in 548 a.d., and died here in 549 (n). The
tenor of his life attests that he did not accompany the children of Ere, who
acted under the legendary influence of St. Patrick's blessing. The disciples of
St. Ciaran may probably have administred to their religious needs ; and there
was certainly a chapel and burymg-ground dedicated to the influential Ciaran,
on the site of Campbeltown in Kintyre, where the enterprizing Aidan was
buried. But of religious establishments we hear nothing, till half a century
had elapsed from the epoch of the Scoto-Irish colon}'. The illustrious Columba
arrived from Ireland in 563 a.d., founded the abbey of lona, the mstructive
school of North- Britain, and died in 597, after converting the Picts by his
precepts, and meliorating the Scots by his example. Archbishop Usher has
proved, with a profusion of learning, that the religion of the Columbans " was
" for substance the same which the protestants now j^rofess " (o). The Colum-
bans had zeal, but not without knowledge and discretion. Within the ample
range of modern Argyll they founded many chapels, which they dedicated to
Brigid, to Colman, to Modan, to Ninian, and to Coivan, and which perpetuate
in their names the piety of the Scoto-Irish, though it did not always regulate their
Hves nor moderate their passions. The miracles which are attributed to
Columba and to other saints, can only be regarded as traits of manners during
(/.) Leland's Hist. Prel. Disc, p. 31. (0 Holland's Camden, Ireland, p. 116.
(w) Hanis's Ware, p. 72-3. (ra) Harris's "Ware, v. i., p. 165-179.
(o) Usher's Discoui-se of the Eeligion anciently professed by the Irish and British, 1631 ; Cox's
Apparatus.
312 An ACCOUNT [Book 11— The Pictish Period.
barbarous times, when neither chieftains nor kings could be diverted from the
evil of their v^^ays by other than supernatural means. Let us not think lightly,
however, of the saints of lona, who were the instructors of our fathers while
they were yet ignorant, and the moUifiers of our progenitors while they were
still ferocious. The learning, I was going to say the charity, of those ages
centred all in lona. It received the persons of living kings who retired from
vmstable thrones, and it equally admitted dead kings from the bloody field ( p).
From this seminary went out the teachers of the Caledonian regions. To this
school were sent the princes of Northumberland, who acquired the lights of the
gospel from the luminaries of lona {(f).
(jj) In 765 A.D. Neill, who was surnamed Frassach, king of Ireland, abdicated his kingdom, and
retired to lona, where he died. In 777 a.d. Aslgal, the son of Cutald, the king of Connaught, became a
monk of lona, where he died. Golgan's Triad. Thaumat. App., p. 5 ; Innes's MS. Col. Adamnan,
the learned successor of Columba, with true charit)', opened the sacred soil of lona, to receive the poor
corpse of the vanquished Egfrid, the Northumbrian king. Yet did not this charity protect lona from
the enmity of the Vikingr. In 797 a.d., it was ravaged by the Pirate Northmen. Ann. Ult. In 801
the abbey, with some of the monks, were burnt. Id.
{q) Bede, 1. iii., c. 3-6. Colgan has collected a " Catalogus Alphabeticus Sanctorum Virorumque
et illustrium qui in Hyensi insula obierunt, vel in ea floruerunt." Triad. Thaumat. App„ v. § 5.
Innes has copied this alphabetical catalogue, with some additions, into his MS. Collections. Of those
illustrious men, during the darkest period of the North-British annals, there is much in Harris's
Account of the writers of Ireland, from the earliest times. The Scotorum Scriptorum Nomenclatura
of Dempster is uot to be trusted.
Ch. YII.—The Jntrod. of Christianity.'] OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 313
CHAP. vn.
Of the Introduction of Christianity.
THE similai-ity of the superstitions which prevailed on the neighbouring
continent and in the British island is emphatically mentioned by Julius Caesar
as a strong proof of the common origin of the Gauhsh people of both. The
Druidism of the ancient Britons obviously derived its source from the practices
of the most early times (a). The barbarous sacrifices of human victims, how-
ever, were too general in the first ages to be peculiar to the British priests.
The most usual objects of their worship were woods and waters, fires and
rocks (6). The same natural objects were equally the gods of their idolatry in
North-Britain as they had been in the most southern districts of our island (c).
The priests and the people equally assembled in the sacred groves, and
within the circles of stones, to perform their unhallowed rites (d). The stone
monuments which still remain in North-Britain are indubitable proofs of the
similarity of the worship which was practised there as well as in South-Britain ;
and the superstitious observances which yet continue ai^e supplementary evidence
of the sameness of the British tribes. Within the Pictish territories there long
remained the sacred groves and stone circles, the area whereof the superstitious
vulgar called holy ground, which they refused to convert to any civil use. Some
of the first Christians converted those sacred enclosures into chapels ; and hence
(a) Mona Antiqua, ed. 1766, p. 39-53 ; Borlase's Cornwall, book ii., p. 53 ; and see before, book i.,
chap. ii.
(b) Borlase, p. 55-66.
(c) Aboriginal Remains, wbicb are altogether conformable to the British superstitions and usages,
may be seen in every part of Scotland. See b. i., ch. ii.
{d) On the introduction of Christianity, the term Cil, which originally signified a covert, a recess,
a retreat, as it had been appropriated to the groves of the Druids, was applied to the cells and chapels
of the first Christian missionaries and saints, and to the consecrated cemeteries which were attached
to them; and hence the Cil came to be a very common prefix in the names of churches, chapels, and
parishes, both in Britain and in Ireland, having the name of the patron saint as an adjunct, as
Kil-morie, Kil-bride, Kil-patrick, Kil-colm-kil, and so of others, as may be seen in the Topogi-aphical
Dictionary.
Vol. I. S s
314 An ACCOUNT [Bookll.— The Pictish Period.
the Llan of the Cambro-Britons and the Plcts signified a small enclosure, a
place of gathering- together, a church, a town having a church (e).
As the Scoto-Irish, who came in upon the Picts after the epoch of 843 A.D.,
had long been Christians, none of those Druid monuments can be attributed to
their inisullied hands. None of the Gothic tribes either erected such stone
monuments or practised such superstitions ; nor do we see any such remains in
Shetland, which was undoubtedly settled by the genuine Scandinavians ; and
those stone monuments are, therefore, the durable work of Pictish hands {/).
The paradoxical writers who can find no evidence that there were ever any
Druids in North-Britain, merely turn away their eyes from the satisfactory
proofs of monumental records, which attest the long residence and powerful
influence of the Druids among the British people in North Britain.
The era of Christianity and the epoch of the declension of Druidism may
be considered as the same (g). Augustus jDroscribed the Druid rites to the
Roman citizens ; Tiberius enforced the prohibition of his predecessor ; and
Claudius abolished the i-eligion of the Druids withiu the ample extent of Gaul
during the year 43 (h). As the Romans extended their conquests in Britain,
the practices of the Druids were either proscribed by power, or were disused by
neglect. Yet in Wales, in Ireland, and in Caledonia, Druidism continued to
maintain its influence, till the lights of Christianity penetrated into its darkest
recesses (i).
The religion of Christ gained upon the world in defiance of persecution,
during three centuries of adversity. With the accession of Constantine in
306 A.D. it may be said to have been established within the Roman empire,
though not with all the temporal rights which it afterwards acquired. In
Britain it appears to have veiy soon assumed the same form of policy as it had
naturally acquu'ed within the other districts of the Roman state, and as
early as 314 a.d. three bishops actually appeared from Britain at the Council
(e) Owen's Diet, in vo. Hence in Wales and in Cornwall LUui is a common prefix in the names of
cliurctes and parislies, and even in North-Britain there are some instances of the prefix Llan, as in
Llan-bride and Llan-morgan. The Druid temples in North Britain were called, by the Scoto-Irish
missionaries who propagated the gospel in that country during the sixth century, Clachan, which literally
signified stones. Hence the tenn Clachan came to denote a place of worship from the epoch of
Christianity to the present times ; and from the same application of this term the Kirk-towns in the
western parts of North-Britain are even now called Clachan.
(/) See before, book i., chap. ii. (j/) Borlase's Cornwall, p. 152.
(A) Fleury's Eccles. Hist., vol. i., p. 43. (j) Usher's Eccles. Prim., ch. v.
Ch.YlL— The IiUrod. of Christiauitij.'] OfNOETII-BEITAIN. 315
of Aries, the representatives of three dioceses, which were probably commen-
surate with three of the Roman provinces in this island (k).
Yet is there reason to believe that the benign influence of Christianity had
been felt in those parts of North-Britain, which were inaccessible to the Roman
power, as soon as the beginning of the third century. The Romanized Britons
of Valentia, who are called the Southern Picts by Bede and the contemporary
writers of the middle ages, were converted from their ancient superstitions at
the commencement of the fifth century. This reformation they owed to
Ninian, who was born about the year 360 of noble parentage, in the country
of the Novantes, near the Leucophibia of Ptolomy. Ninian was ordained at
Rome ; was instructed in Monastic discipline by Mai'tin of Tours ; and re-
turning before the year 397, he freed his countrymen from superstitious errors,
and taught them the most important truths. He founded a monastery at
Whithorn, which supplied the country with successive teachers, and erected a
church, which is emphatically mentioned by Bede as the first that was built of
stone, and as having from this cii'cumstance obtained the appropriate name of
Candida Casa. Ninian died on the 16th of September, 432 {I); and on that
(I') Lloyd's Ancient Churcli Government, p. 72. There accompanied those Bishops to that council,
according to the practice of that age, one Presbyter and one Deacon.
(I) Bede, ed. Smith, book iii., ch. iv. ; Usher's Eccles. Primord., p. 1100; Lloyd's Hist.
Account of the British Churches, p. 50 ; Innes's Eccles. Hist. MS. in my library, § 34 ; Britannia
Sancta, vol. ii., p. 130-3 ; Keith's Bishops, p. 233 ; and Dempster's Menologia. His fame will
be still longer preserved by the number of churches which in North-Britain have been dedicated
to his name. Kil-Ninian parish, in Mull island ; Kil-Saint-Ninian, in Colmonell parish, Ayrshire ;
St. Ninians parish, near Stirling ; St. Ninians, in Aiyth parish ; St. Ninian's chapel, which has
been converted into a cemetery, in the Enzie, Banffshire ; St. Ninians, in Invemess-shire — all owe
their ancient names to the worthy Ninian. Thei'e were other local objects in North-Britain
which equally derived their names from the respected Ninian. There was None-kil, or St. Ninian's
chapel, in Kiltearn parish. There was a chaplainry of St. Ninian attached to the cathedral church
of Ross ; and there was a chaplainry of St. Ninian attached to the cathedral church of Moray.
There was a chapel dedicated to St. Ninian on the Castle-hill of Aberdeen ; and there was a chapel
dedicated to St. Ninian at the west port of Linlithgow. In the parish of St. Vigeans there were
a chapel and a burying-ground dedicated to St. Ninian, and near them is St. Ninian's well,
which was formerly in great repute for curing many maladies. Stat. Account, v. xii., p. 183. In
the isle of Bute there was a chapel dedicated to St. Ninian, which stood on a promontory called
Euna-Eingan, the point of St. Ninian. In one of the Shetland isles, on the west coast of Dunross-
ness, there was a chapel dedicated to St. Ninian, and this islet was called Emgan isle, or St. Ninian's
isle. Sibbald's Shetland, p. 15. In different maps it is called Eonan's isle, or Eingan's isle.
As Ringan is the Irish name of Ninian, we may easily suppose that this name has been applied,
and this chapel erected, by some of the zealous Columbans who may have visited Thule for the
worthy purpose of instructing the pagan Shetlanders in the religion of Christ. Thus St. Niniaa
Ss2
31G An ACCOUNT [Book U.—T/ie Pktish Period.
day his festival was for ages celebrated in remembrance of a prelate who had
spent a long life in instructing the intellects and refining the manners of a
rude people.
Ninian had probably the province of Valentia for his diocese {m). The
Roman citizens who lived within its ample limits had been generally converted
to Christianity before -the abdication of the Roman power. The firmness of
their faith was somewhat shaken, however, during the fierce contests which
followed that great event for the possession of the Valentian country, rather
than for the abdicated power. Kentigern, the deserving disciple of Servan,
appeared among the Romanized Britons about the middle of the sixth century.
Under the protection of Marken, the petty king of the Strathcluyd Britons,
Kentigern fixed his residence at Alcluyd, the capital of the Cumbrian kingdom ;
but the authority of Marken, and the jurisdiction of Kentigern, were soon
regarded as inconsistent with each other ; and from tbe wrath of the king the
prelate was obliged to flee for safety into Wales. He was not long after re-
lieved from the enmity of his persecutor by the death of Marken. He was now
recalled to the seat of his usefulness by Rederech the bountiful ; but he died on
the 13th of January, 601, after performing, for the improvement of the people,
all that zeal coidd suggest or perseverance could execute. Such were the reli-
gious labours of Kentigern, which induced his votaries to consider him as the
founder of the diocese of Glasgow, to whom its cathedral was dedicated under
the endearing name of Mungo, as his meritorious services were still remembered
at the end of six centuries of obscure recollection (;().
appears to have been venerated in every district of Nortli-Britain, in the northern as well as in
the western isles. Tradition repeats that Ninian occasionally inhabited a cave, which is still shown
with veneration, on the sea shore near the house of Physgil, in Wigtonshire. Stat. Account, v. xvii.,
p. 594.
(h() Bede, Hist. 1. i., cap. ii.
(n) Usher's Primord., 8vo ed., p. 708, 1154; Innes's Eooles. Hist. MS. in my library; the
Inquest of David, Prince of Cumbria, 1116 A.D., in the Chartulary of Glasgow. For the parentage
of Kentigern, see the Welsh Archaeology, v. ii., p. 34, among the genealogies of the British saints.
The Eev. Thomas Maccourty, in his Stat. Account of the parish of Penicuik, v. x., p. 419,
says Mungo in the Norwegian language signifies dear friend. If he had substituted British for
Norwegian, he would not have been far wrong ; for the word Mungo has nearly that significa-
tion in the Welsh. Mwyn in the British is kind, gentle, courteous, affable, Owen's Diet.; and
Mwyngu or Mynogan signifies a courteous or mild person. Owen. To Kentigern, or Mungo,
many places in North-Britain owe their names. On the winding shore of the Forth, near the
town of Cuh-oss, there is the ruin of St. Mungo's chapel, which legend states to have been built
near the place of his birth. According to it, Kentigern was the son of Eugene III., the king of Scots,
Ch.Yll.— The IntroJ. of Christianity.'] Of NOETH-BEI T AIN. 317
During the first ages of Christianity, before the christian votaries had yet
been formed into a regular church which could afford protection to its pastors,
their most early teachers were obliged to seek shelter in caves from the heady
rudeness of half-informed followers. A cave upon the sea shore of Glasseiton,
in Wigtonshire, furnished such a retreat to the worthy Ninian (o). In the
vicinity of Campbeltown, in Kintyre, there is a remarkable cave, which is said
by legend to have been the retreat of Ciaran, the apostle of the Scoto-Irish, and
which still bears his name in the tradition of the country (2^). We may thus
trace to its origin the cause why so many of the names of parishes in North-
Britain and Ireland have in them the prefix Kil, from the British Cil, a retreat,
a refuge ; and the Irish Kil, signifying, secondarily, a church. Near the chapel
of Cove, in Knapdale, there is a consecrated cave, which gives a name to the
farm, where the altar and font still remain, with a cross that is cut in the solid
rock above [q). At St. Andrews, the ancient retreat of St. Rule and St.
Andrew, there are several caves, which were anciently dedicated to religious
vises by sanctimonious men (>•).
by an illegitimate intercourse with Tliamit, tlie daughter of Loth, the king of the Piets ; and he was
educated, according to it, under St. Serf at Culross, in a hennitage, which was converted into a
religious house. The chapel of St. Mungo at Culross had two established chaplains, who were sup-
ported by an endowment of some lands in Strathearn, which were at the Eeformation bestowed by
the king on the college of Glasgow. Stat. Account, v. sviii., p. G49. The parish church of St.
Mungo in Annandale, obtained its present name, no doubt, from its connection with the see of
Glasgow. In the Inquisitio Davidis, 1116 a.d., this parish was found to belong to this diocese under
the British name of Ahermelc. The parish church of Pen-y-ouik in Edinburghshire, was dedicated
to St. Mungo ; and a sjsring in the minister's garden is still called St. Mungo's well. Stat. Account,
V. s., p. 419. In Auchterarder parish, there was a chapel dedicated to St. Mungo, the remains of
which may still be seen. lb., vol. iv., p. 44. The spring, which is the source of Euthven water in
Blackford Parish, is called St. Mungo's well. lb. v. iii., p. 205. In the parish of Huntly in Aber-
deenshire, there is a hill named after St. Mungo, from which issues a fine spring, which is called St.
Mungo's well. lb. v. ii., p. 409.
(0) Stat. Account, v. xvii., p. 594. This retreat is still called St. Ninian s Cave.
(/)) lb. V. X., p. 534. The most ancient church at Campbeltown was dedicated to St. Ciaran, and
hence it had the name of Kil-kei-ran. From him was derived the name of Kil-kerran in Ayi-shire.
{q) Stat. Account, v. xix., p. 314.
(r) lb. V. xiii., p. 202. At St. Andrews, between the castle and the harbour, there is an artificial
cave, nearly round, about ten feet diameter and the same. in height. On the east side of it the rock is
shaped into the form of a table or altar ; and on the west side of it, there is an aperture of the size
and shape of a door, which leads into a small closet that faint tradition recounts to have been the cell
of a hermit. The access to this curious cave is now very difiicult. There is also a similar excavation
or cave in the face of the rock whereon the castle stands, the lamentable monument of ecclesiastic
pride and of refomiing fury.
318 An ACCOUNT [Book ll.—TI,e Pktish Period.
Ireland, which was destined to furnish religious instructors to the Caledonian
regions, was herself converted by British missionaries as early as a.d. 432 (s) ;
and the Irish colonists who were conducted to Kintyre by Fergus in 503
A.D., were thus enabled to bring Christianity with them, and to interweave it
with their polity. The religion which was professed by those founders of the
Scottish monarchy, " was for substance the same with what is now by public
"authority maintained against the foi-eign doctrine of later times (<)." The
ecclesiastical patron of the Irish emigrants was Ciaran, a prelate of great fame,
to whose name several churches in Argyll and Ayi'shire were dedicated (w) ;
but the Irish colonists seem to have been too much occupied with their own
temporal affairs, to allow them leisure for making converts beyond the narrow
extent of their little kingdom.
The converting of the Northern Picts was reserved for a greater personage.
As he came not to destroy but to save, and not to conquer but to civilize,
Columba will always be remembered as the disinterested benefactor of North-
Britain. Born of a family of the highest rank in Ireland, the cousin of Scoto-
Irish kings, Columba early dedicated his life to religion during a religious
period : and being involved in the troubles of a tumultuous people, he departed
from Ireland for the colony of his kindred in A.D. 563, at the age of forty-two,
after founding several monasteries in his native land.
The year 305 may be considered as the epoch of Monkisra. Then it was that
Anthony of Egypt thought it meritorious to retire into the depth of the desert
from the enjoyments of the world, for the practice of austerity. As early as
A.D. 341 his follies were admired, and his perseverance was imitated at Rome.
In A.D. 360 Basil propagated his fame, and imitated his example in Pontus.
The merit of Monkism now found its way into Western Europe ; and Martin
laid the foundation of a monastery at Tours, which exhibited a strict regimen to
(«) Lloyd's Hist. Account of Church Government, p. 50.
(t) Archbishop Usher's Discourse of the Religion anciently professed by the Irish and Scots, p. 2.
(w) Ciaran, the patron saint of the Scoto-Irish, as he was the son of a carpenter, was nicknamed
Mac-Iteir [MacCheaird], the son of the artificer. He was bom in 516 ; he founded the abbey of Clon-
niaenois on the river Shannon in 548 ; and within this house he died in the subsequent year, on the
9th of September, the day of his festival. Harris's Ware, v. i., p. 165-179 ; Monast. Hibern., p.
380. Keith, though right as to his festival, calls him St. Queran, an Abbot in Scotland, a.d. 876.
List of Bishops, p. 233. The ruins of Kil-kerrau, a church dedicated to Ciaran, is still to be seen in
Campbeltown in Kintyre. At Kil-kiaran in Islay, Kil-kiaran in Lismore, and Kil-ken-an in Canick,
there were chapels dedicated to Ciaran, from whom the names are derived. An islet on the coast of
Lorn also bears the name of Kiaran.
Ch.Yll.— The Introd. of Christianity.'] Op NOE TH -BEIT AIN. 319
admiring zealots, and taught new rules to similar establishments. So agreeable
were the spirit and practice of monkerj' to the temper of those times, that the
monastery of Banchor contained two thousand brethren at the commencement
of the fifth century, and thence was sent out a numerous colony among the con-
genial tribes of the sister island (x).
With this spirit Columba seems to have been greatly tinctured, while he was
actuated by the best intentions. For the site of the monastery which was de-
signed by him to be the school of the Caledonian people, he cast his eyes on a
solitary isle lying in the Scottish sea near the south-west angle of Mull (ij).
"Whether the investiture of Hy was conferred on Columba by Conal, his
relation, the Scottish king, or Bridei, the Pictish sovereign, is a question which
has been disputed between the Irish annalists and the Anglo-Saxon historian.
Probability has decided in favour of the first. It was doubtless considerations
of security which dictated the choice of such isles near the shores of Ireland, of
Scotland, and of England as the safest situations for religious establishments
during barbarous times. The foresight of the founders was ill placed. When
the savage Danes became, during the eighth and ninth centuries, the most power-
ful navigators of the northern seas, such monasteries were only the objects of
their avarice.
In Hy Columba settled with his twelve disciples. They now neither sought
nor loved any thing of this world, as Bede relates (z). They laboured two years
with their own hands in erecting huts and building a church of very slight
materials. The Columbans, though they were called monks, were a body of
regular clergy, except those who were chiefly employed in corporal labour, and
(x) See an Historical Account of Monklsin in Gibbon's Hist, of the Decline and Fall of the
Eom. Emp., 8vo. ed., vol. vi., p. 241-6 ; Camden's Brit., v. i., p. 666-7 ; Lloyd's Ch. Government, p.
156.
()/) The name of the chosen spot was simply the Irish /, signifying an island. The / of the
Gaelic was soon aspirated by the Saxon Bede into Hy. From the troublesome surf which constantly
beat upon its shores, it was naturally called by the Irish 1-thon, the island of waves, and this being
pronounced I-on, was by the monks easily latinized lona; and we may see it written by Adamnan,
one of the successors and the biographer of Columba, Hyona. Yet may we hear mythologists talking
of lona in its pure form as being a Phoenician word. It soon became known by the name of I-columb-
cil, the isle of Columba's retreat or cell. This isle, which is now two miles distant from Mull, was
anciently separated from it by a much narrower frith, as we may infer from the information of con-
temporary writers, who tell us that passengers used to speak across the strait from Mull to Hy.
This islet is at present two miles long and one broad, and is fertile in all that a rugged climate pro-
duces. See the Stat. Account, v. xis., p. 314, wherein there are some intimations to show that
Columba first landed in Knapdale, an event which is quite improbable.
(z) Bede, 1. iii., ch. v., p. 26 ; Adamnan, 1. i., ch. xxxii., Ub. ii., ch. xxxix.
320 AnACCOUNT [Book ll.—The Ftctish Period.
those who were consigned to public penance. They hvecl under the strict dis-
cipUne which Columba had estabhshed as the rule of his monasteries. Amidst
all their labours, both bodily and intellectual, they employed much time in
reading and transcribing the Scriptures, not indeed in the Hebrew verity, but in
the Latin translation (z).
After thus forming his establishment, Columba undertook the difficult enter-
prize of converting a people, those Picts who dwelt northward of Drum-
Albin. The power of prophecy, the gift of miracles, which were arrogated by
Columba, and are related by his biographers, are proofs of the ignorance and
simplicity of the age. The Picts consisted of clans who had advanced little
from a savage state, and who were governed by Bridei, the son of Mailcon, a
prince of great influence, but of little civilization (a). The patience and per-
severance of Columba converted the king ; and the prince, by his persuasion
and authority, converted the people. Columba and his disciples now journeyed,
for the useful end of instruction, through every part of the Pictish territories,
and even penetrated into the Orkney Isles. They at length established monas-
teries within every district of the Caledonian country while parishes did not
yet exist, with the design of sending out a succession of adequate instructors
for the uninformed people (6).
Such were probably the cells which were subject to the abbey of Hy, and
were situated throughout the western islands, as well as on the shores of the
(^) " As for the edition of the Scriptures which was used in those parts in those times,'' says Arch-
bishop Usher, " the Latin translation was so received into common use among the learned,
"that the principal authority was still resisrved to the original fountains." Religion of the Ancient
Irish, p. 6.
(a) Bridei, the son of Mailcon, began to reign in a.d. 556, and died in 586. Bede speaks of
Bridei as the powerful king of the Picts. "Venit autem Britanniam Columba, regnante Pictis
" Bridio filio Mailochon, Eege potentissimo, nono anno regni ejus, gentem que illam verbo et
'' exemplo ad fidem Christi convertit.'' Lib. iii., ch. iv. ; Innes's Eccles. Hist. MS. in my
library, § 43.
(b) Innes's Ecclesiast. Hist., § 44 ; Bede, lib. iii., ch. iv. ; Adamnan, lib. ii., ch. xlvi. The
numbers and distances of the churches which were dedicated to Columba are proofs in con-
firmation of Bede, and Adamnan, and Innes of the extent of his authority, and of the influence
of bis name. There are Kilcolmkill, the oldest church and burying-ground in Morven ; Kilcolm-
MU, in South Cantii-e ; Kilcolmkill, in Mull ; Kilcolmkill, in Islay-Island ; Kilcolmkill, on the
north-west of the same isle ; Kilcolmkill, in North Uist ; Kilcolmkill, in Benbecula ; KilcohnkiU,
in Skye ; Kilcolmkill, in Sutherland ; Colmkill, in Lanark ; there are Columbkill-isle, in Loch
Erisport, in Lewis ; Columbkill-isle, in Loch Columbkill, whereon there are the remains of a
monastery dedicated to St. Columba ; Inch Colm, in the Frith of Forth, on which a monastery
was founded by Alexander I. a.d. 1123, and dedicated to St. Columba; Eilean Colm, a small
I
I
Ch. NU.—TJie Intfod. of Christimiiti/.] 0 p N 0 R T H - B R I T A I N. 32 1
eastern sea, and even in Orkney (c). Columba, as abbot of Hy, acquired an
unusual jurisdiction within his island, whereof he was projirietor, and perhaps
within the various cells whereof he was superior. From an intimation of Bede,
it has been supposed by prejudice that the abbot of Hy was even superior to a
bishop. A prelate, living on lona, was no doubt subordinate to the abbot,
though only a presbyter, as chief of the monastery and as lord of the soU, in
the same manner as the bishop of Oxford, while he resides within the jurisdiction
of the University, is subordinate to the vice-chancellor (d). Yet neither Co-
lumba nor his successors could perform the functions of a bishop, while they
continued obedient to ecclesiastical authority, as it was established at the Nicene
Council in A.D. 325, and confirmed by universal practice. For the perform-
ance of such functions, as the power of a prelate alone could execute in that
age, a bishop is said to have resided within the abbey (e). The settled laws of
a community are its truest history ; and it is from this genuine soui'ce of
information that zealous episcopalians are led to believe the existence of
island in Tongue parisli ; there was formerly St. Colm's Kirk, in tiie island of Sanday, in Orkney.
See the Map of Orkney in Blaeu's Atlas. There is St. Colm's Isle in the Minch, on the south-
east of Lewis, which, with St. Mary's Isle and some other islands, are called the Shiant Isles, and
in Gaelic Eileanan Sheanta, which means the blessed or consecrated islands. The parish church of
Loumay, in Aberdeenshire, was dedicated to St. Columba. There is the parish of Kirk-
colm in Wigtonshire. In the parish of Caerlaverock there was a chapel dedicated to St. Columba ;
to him was dedicated one of the chaplainries which was attached to the cathedral of Moray.
The original church of Dunkeld, which was built by Kennetli MacAlpin for the reception of the
relics of St. Columba, was dedicated to St. Columba, who became the patron saint of the see, and
of the town of Dunkeld. Keith, under the 9th of June, has St. Colme an abbot and confessor in
Scotland a.d. 60.5. List of Bishops, p. 232. But St. Columba certainly died in 597 on the 9tli of
June. Indeed, Keith has another St. Colm, a bishop and confessor in Scotland a.d. 1000, under the
6th of June. Id. In Dempster's Menologia, under the 6th of June, there is " Kirkue Colmi orcadum
apostoli ;" and in Dempster's Nomenclature of Scottish Writers there is St. Colmus Epis. Oread. 1010
A.D. The St. Colm's Kirk in the isle of Sanday, in Orkney, was perhaps named from this St. Colm,
who was the apostle of the Orkneys at the end of the tenth century. In the Vetera Analecta
of ILabillon, v. ii., p. 669, there is an Anr/lican Litany of the seventh century, according to the
judicious opinion of the learned editor. We may see in it St. Patric, St. Brendan, St. Gilda, St.
Guinwaloc, St. Munn, St. Servan, St. Colunicille, and the virgins St. Columba and St. Briged.
But there is in it no St. Colm, nor indeed any of those respectable persons who were sainted after
the seventh century.
(c) There is in Orkney, Eglishay Isle, containing a very ancient church, which obviously derived its
name from the Irish Eagkiis, a church. These coincidences confirm the intimations of Adamnan, that
Columba sent his disciples into Orkney to convert the pagan Scandinavians.
{(I) Bede, lib. iii., ch. iv. ; Lloyd's Hist. Account of Church Government, ch. vii.
(e) Usher indeed informs us, from the Ulster Annals, that not only an abbot, but a bishop,
resided in Hy. Eccles. Primord., 8vo. ed., p. 701. Colgan's Collections confirm this position as a
fact.
Vol. L Tt
322 An ACCOUNT [Boo)!: II.— T he Pictish Period.
bishops among the Scots and Picts, to have been coeval with the introduction
of Christianity (/). Ternan is declared by tradition, and stated by history, to
have been the first bishop of the Picts, and to have resided at Abernethy, the
Pictish capital, as he had the Pictish kingdom for his appropriate diocese (g).
Columba, during four-and-thirty years of active benevolence, continued to
send out his pastors to inform the ignorant, to superintend the cells which his
jDolicy had established, and to compose the hasty disputes of rugged chieftains.
Tlie contemporary princes often felt tlie influence of his councils, and some-
times profited from the interposition of his authority. Conal, the fifth king of
the Scots in Argyll, to whom, as a relation, Columba owed the reception of
a friend, and the gift of Hy, died in 571. Aidan, the successor of Conal,
(/) Innes gives from a MS. Kalendar and Missal of the diocese of St. Andrews, wbicli
belonged to the Viscount Arbuthnot, and from the printed breviary of Aberdeen, 1509, the following
list of the earliest bishops : " S. Nachtan or Nathalan, a bishop, January 8th, at Tulich in Mar ;
" S. Wollock or MacwoUock, a bishop, January 29th, at Logy in Mar; S. Glascian, a bishop,
" 30th January, at Kinglass, etc. ; S. Modoek, a bishop, 31st January, at Kilmodock ; S. Mar-
" nan, a bishop, 1st March; S. Duthack, a bishop, 8th March, who was famous in Eoss ; S.
" Eonan, a bishop, May 22nd, at Kilmaronack, in Lenox ; S. Colmack, a bishop, June 6th ; S.
" Molock or Molonach, a bishop, June 25th, at Lysmore in Argyle ; July 1st, S. Servan or
" Serf, a bishop ; August 10th, S. Blan, a bishop at Dunblain ; August 24th, S. Yrchard, a
"bishop at Kincairn-O'neil ; September 1st, S. Murdach, a bishop; September 22nd, S. Lokm,
" a bishop ; September 25th, S. Bar or Finbar, a bishop at Kilbar, in the Isle of Barra and in
" Cathness ; September 28th, S. Maclian, a bishop; October IGth, S. Colman, a bishop; October
" 28th, S. Marnock, a bishop ; October 30th, S. Talurican or Tarkin, a bishop ; November 1 3th,
" S. Devenick, a bishop at Banchory-Devenick ; November 18th, S. Fergusian or Fergus, a
" bishop ; December 2nd, S. Ethernan, a bishop ; December 18th, S. Manir, a bishop ; Decem-
" ber 22nd, S. Ethemase, a bishop." But Lines was unable to reduce this list to any chronology,
which was doubtless impossible, or to give any of them a diocese, which did not in that age exist.
Yet the Topographical Dictionary will show that there exists in Scotland various names of
churches which were undoubtedly dedicated to several of those bishops as sincere tributes of
thankful recollection. Lmes's MS. Eccles. Hist., § 25. It was altogether consistent with the
universal practice of the church in the earliest ages to consecrate bishops who did not enjoy distinct
jurisdictions.
((/) Innes asserts in his MS. Eccles. Hist., § 24, that Ternanus is recorded as the first bishop
of the Picts in the only copy which he had met with of the MS. missal of the metropolitan church
of St. Andrews, and is named both in the kalendar and in the collect, '■ S. Terrenanus arohipre-
" sul & archipiscopus Pictorum." His festival was on the 12th of June. The parish of Ban-
choTj-Ternaii, in Kincardineshire, was no doubt named from the Pictish Bishop. One of th»
two annual fairs, which are held near the church, is called S. Teman's Market, and a small foun-
tain at no great distance is named S. Teman's Well. S. Ternan must not be confounded with
S. Ethernan whose festival was celebrated on the 2nd of December. Innes quotes the Book of
Paisley for the intimation that Abernethy was the seat both of the Pictish kings and the Pictish
bishops.
Ch.YU— The Introd. of Christianity.] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 323
thinking that the solemnity of inauguration might contribute to the stability of
his power, passed over to the sacred isle for obtaining his object, whether of
policy or religion ; and here in 574 was the king ordained and inaugurated
by the abbot, according to the ceremonial of the liber vitreus (h). Bridei, who
owed to Columba his own conversion and his people's civilization, died in
A.D. 586, after a reign of thirty years. Gartnaich his successor, who was also
indebted to Hy for the teachers of his subjects, died in 597. With Columba
was also contemporary Ryderech the king of Strathcluyd, who partook of the
abbot's councils for the benefit of his country. Columba died on the 9th of
June 597, leaving his monastery firmly settled, a people converted by his
labours from Paganism to Christianity, and a name for the celebration of every
age (i).
(/() Aiiamnan. lib. iii., cL. v. F. Martene, a learned Benedictine, observes in his book, '• De Anti-
" quis Ecclesiiv Ritihiis," tliat this inauguration of Aidan is the most ancient account that, after all his
researches, he had found in respect to the benediction or inauguration of kings, which are the names
that Adamnan gives to this royal ceremony. The cover of the Liber Vitreus is supposed to have been
encrusted with ciystal. Innes's MS. Eccles. History, § 49.
(/) Yet does Mr. Faber, by a plastic stroke of hia mythological wand, convert Columba from being
a real man to be a fictitious dove. Dissertation on the Oabiri, 398, 403. Happy 1 if our mytholo-
gists, while they cannot illustrate the dark if they would not darken the clear. I will here subjoin
from Colgan's Triad. Thaumat. App. v. § 4, an enumeration of Columba's successors throughout the
present period, as I find the document in Innes"s MS. Collections :
1. Baithan, the son of Brendan, and Columba's disciple, succeeded him as Abbot of lona, and died the
9th of June GOO a.d.
2. Lafren, the son of Femdaoh, died in September GDI a.d.
3. Fergnan, who was surnamed Britannicus, a Bishop and abbot of Hy, died the 2nd of March 622 A.D.
4. Segenius, who founded the church of Rechran, died in G30 a.d.
5. Segenius, the son of Fiacre, died in G51 a.d. : his festival was the 12th of August.
6. Suibnie, the son of Curthrie, died in G54 a.d.
7. Cumineus died in GG8 a.d. : his festival was on the 24th of February.
8. Feilbei died on the 22nd of March 677 a.d.
9. Adamnan, the son of Ronam, died the 23rd September 703 a.d.
10. Conain, the son of Falbei, died the 11th September 708 a.d.
11. Oeudei, the bishop and abbot of Hy, died the 24th October 711 A.D.
12. Dorbonei, who had the cognomen of Conei, died the 28th of October 713 a.d.
13. Dunchad died the 25th of May 616 or 617. Bede, 1. v. ch. ssiii.
14. Foeloho, who was instituted at the age of 74, died in 720 a.d.
15. Kilian, who had the cognomen of Long, died the 14th or 19th of April 725 a.d.
16. Kilian, who had the cognomen of Droich, died the 3rd of July 747 a.d.
17. Feiblei died at the age of 87, the 10th of March 757 a.d.
T t2
324 A N A C C 0 U N T Book U.—The Pictish Period.
The institutions of Columba were not only beneficial to the northern Picts,
but they were also advantageous to the northern English. The monastery of
Hy furnished an asylum and instruction to those princes of Northumberland
who were forced to seek for shelter from the revolutions of their country.
Oswald, who had fled from the power of Edwin, found protection in lona.
Here was he instructed in the religion of Christ, and taught the Gaelic lan-
guage of the Scoto-Irish monastery.
Oswald was cai-ried from exile to a throne in a.d. 634. He had scarcely
assumed the government of Northumberland, when, pitying the ignorance of
his people, he wished for their instruction. He was induced by this motive
to desire the abbot of Hy to send him a bishop who might teach the Northum-
brians the enlivening truths of Christianity. A prelate was sent, who, as his
temper and knowledge were unfit for the difficult task of converting an irasci-
ble people, soon returned to the obscurity of Hy. Aidan, a monk of the same
leai'ned establishment, who possessed better habits_ and more useful accomplish-
ments, now ofiered himself to the desires of Oswald. Aidan was thereupon
consecrated for the Northumbrian mission. The king marked his approbation
of him, by giving the prelate for his episcopal seat the isle of Lindisfarne on
the Northumbrian coast, which is now known by the appropriate name of Hohj
Island. The Scottish Aidan, as he did not jaerfectly understand the English
language, found some embairassment in preaching to the people of Northum-
Ijria, which was wholly inhabited by the Anglo-Saxons in that early age ; but
Oswald, as he understood the Gaelic, was prompted by his zeal to act as in-
terpreter between the preacher and his people (/;). Aidan was soon followed
by other teachers from the same school. The subjects of the pious Oswald
were universally converted by the Scottish missionaries, and churches were
18. Sleibnie died tlie 4tli of Marcli 7G2 a.d.
19. Suibnei 11. died in 767 a.d. : his festival was on the 22d of June.
20. Muredach, the son of Huagal, died in 777 a.d.
21. Bressaliei died in 786 : his festival was the 18th of May or 30th September.
22. Conmaee, the abbot, and a learned writer, died in 797 : his festival was the 10th of Ma}'.
23. KeUach, the son of Congal, died in 810 a.d. : his festival vpas the 1st April.
24. Diarmit died in 816 a.d. : his festival was the 12th or 20th September.
25. Blathmac, the son of Flan, was slain by the Danes in 823 : his festival was the 19th January.
26. Cellach, the son of Abldi, died in 803 a.d. : his festival was the 18th July.
{k) Caxton in his Chronicon, 1482, tells this story from Bede, 1. iii., cap. iv., in the following man-
ner: "Kinge Oswald axed of the Seottes ; and had it gTaunted that bisshop Aidanus scholde come
" and teche his people : thenne the kyinge yave him a place of the bisshops see in the Tlonde Lynde-
" fam ; there men migght see wonder : for the bisshop prechid in Scottishe, and the kyinge tolde forth
" in Englyshe to the people what it was to saye, or meene." See fo. ccxlvi.
Cli. YD..— The Intro J. of Christianity.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 825
built ill many places for the ecclesiastical accommodation of a people, who
displayed the visual fervour of recent converts (/).
The foundation of the monasteiy and episcopate of Lindisfarne, has for its
epoch A. D. 635. The northern limits of this bishopric extended far into Rox-
burgh and Lothian during the middle ages (m). Melrose also owes its ori-
ginal foundation to Aidan. Coldingham, Tyningham, and Abercorn, were
probably founded under the reign of Oswald, which extended from 634 to
643 A.D. Those religious houses possessed certain lands, with their labourers,
during a period when parochial rights seem to have been unknown in North-
Britain. The language that Avas commonly spoken in those times, through-
out the extensive bishopric of Lindisfarne, was the Anglo-Saxon, which,
on the subduement of the Romanized Ottadini, succeeded to the British
tongue (n).
(Z) Bede, cd. Smith, lib. iii., ch. iii., 5, 6.
(m.) The boundaries of Lindisfarne, according to an ancient book which is quoted in Leland's
Collectanea, vol. ii., p. 366, extended beyond the Tweed froja its distant source, comprehending the
country lying between the Leader water and the Adder, from their rise to their confluences, with
the whole lands that belonged to the monasteiy of St. Balthar at Tyningham, together with the
country extending from Lammermoor to Eskmouth. By a grant of the Northumbrian Ceolwulf,
who reigned from 729 to 738 A.D., thei'e were annexed to the same bishopric the monastery of Aber-
corn and other places lying on the west of Edinburgh. On the south of the Tweed the same bishopric
enjoyed Jedworth from the donation of Bishop Ecgredius, its founder, during the same age. Lei. Col.,
vol. iii., p. 181 ; Anglia Sacra, vol. ii., p. 698. Simeon of Durham, and Brompton both concui- with
this specification.
[ii) That interesting fact will appear with sufScient certainty when to the previous history we
add the curious circumstance that Cuthbert, the celebrated founder of the bishopric of Durham,
who was born on Tweedside and bred in the monastery of Melrose, often travelled from the
Tweed to the Forth, and always instructed the people b}' means of their peculiar language.
Innes's MS. Eccles. Hist., sub an. 664. Bede has left us an intelligent life of Cuthbert from the
information of those who knew that celebrated personage. Yet has the Scoto-Saxon Cuthbert been
claimed by the L-ish antiquary as an Mshman. Ledwich's Antiq. Cuthbert died on the 20th of
March, 687. Smith's Bede, p. 256. We may judge of the influence which was annexed to the
person of St. Cuthbert from the ancient churches which were erected in the southern districts of
North-Britain under the shelter of his name. The West Kirk of Edinburgh, which is certainly
one of the oldest, was dedicated to St. Cuthbert. Kirkcudbright, in Galloway, derives its name
fiom St. Cuthbei-t, to whom the oldest church of that town was dedicated. In Glencairn, Dumfries-
shire, there was a church dedicated to the same patron saint, and named Kirkcudbright. The old
parish churcli of Ballantrae, in Carrick, was dedicated to St. Cuthbert. and was named Kirkcudbright.
In the parish of Som, Ayrshire, there was a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert, and the field where it
stood is still called St. Cuthbert's-Holm. From those notices we may even trace the obscure coloniza-
tion of the Saxon invaders.
J
326 An ACCOUNT [Book H.— The Pictish Period.
At the end of seventeen years of useful labours, in conveying to the Northum-
brians the comforts of Christianity, Aidan died in a.d. 651. He was fol-
lowed by the worthy Finnan, another monk of Hy, who, during ten years,
copied the meritorious example of Aidan, In a.d. 661, Colman, who also
owed his instruction and his principles to Hy, succeeded to Finnan as bishop
of Lindisfarne. His repose was still more disturbed than the quiet of his pre-
decessor had been, by the disputes concerning the true time of celebrating the
Easter Festival, and the proper mode of cutting the clerical tonsure. An at-
tention to the public tranquility required that such debates, whatever might
be their importance should be settled. For this salutary end, Oswy called an
ecclesiastical council at Streanshal in a.d. 664 (o). Questions which had
formerly exercised the talents of the ablest divines of the Roman empire were
now debated by Colman and Wilfrid. The bishop of Lindisfarne defended
the ancient mode of the Scoto-Irish, from the practice of their fathers. The
presbyter, Wilfrid, who having travelled to Rome, knew the customs of the
continental churches, insisted that the calculations whereon the Columbans
as well as the Britons, proceeded in the celebration of Easter, were neither
consistent with just theory, nor agreeable to the universal usage (p). The
tonsure of the British and Scottish ecclesiastics was declared by him to be a
Jewish, rather than a Christian mode. Oswy decided in favour of Wilfrid.
Colman, finding his opinions contested and his usefulness contemned, relin-
quished his bishopric, and retired with his disciples to Hy. On the retreat
of Colman, Bede is studious to remark that the whole time of the Scoto-Irish
episcopacy, within the Northumbrian territories, extended to thirty years (q).
Changes of greater importance, were now at hand. Theodore, a Grecian by
bii'th, and a scholar by profession, was consecrated at Rome in a.d. 668 the
archbishop of Canterbury ; and to him, for the first time, submitted all the
churches of England, as he seemed to be worthy of such a trust, from his
knowledge and prudence. In conformity to his direction, the first general
council of the church of England was held at Hethfield in 673 a.d. It was
on this occasion, and in that assembly determined, that each bishop should
have his distmct district, and that the number of dioceses should be in propor-
(o) Bede, lib. v., cli. sxii. ; UsLer'a Eccles. Primord., p. 93.
(p) The rule for the celebration of Easter, which had been fixed by the Council of Nice in the year
325, is that it be held on the Sunday which falls upon or next after the full moon that happens next
after the 21st of March ; or in other words, the Sunday which falls upon or next after the first full
moon after the vernal equinox.
(<ji) Bede, lib. ili., ch. sxvi., ssvii.
Ch. Yl\.—The Introcl. of Christianity.} OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 827
tion to tlie diffusion of Christianity. It was in obedience to this resolution that
the diocese of the southern Picts was erected in 681 a.d., and that Trumwine
was appointed the bishop of the new estabhshment, whose seat was at Abercom
on the Forth ()■). Here he estabUshed, agreeably to the practice of the age,
a'monastery, whence he sent out his presbyters to perform the various func-
tions which the practice of Christianity required. But the exercise of this
salutary jurisdiction did not long continue. On the defeat and death of Egfrid,
in A.D. 685, 'Trumwine found it necessary to retire with his monks from
Abercorn to Whitby. The former authority of the episcopate of Lindisfarne,
from that epoch, appears to have shed its beneficial influences over the relin-
qilished people of the Saxon Lothian.
The same disputes about the time of celebrating Easter, and the mode of
the ecclesiastic tonsure, which had agitated the ablest men of civilized countries,
now distui'bed the quiet of the northern Picts, the wisest of whom were but little
instructed, while the weakest were very ignorant. Nechtan, their king, who
reigned from A.D. 710 to 725, applied to Ceolfrid the learned abbot of Jai'row,
for instruction and assistance. The abbot wrote the king an elaborate epistle
upon those difficult topics, which the zeal of Bede has preserved (s). When
the Saxon document of Ceolfrid was translated into the Pictish lancruage, it
appears to have made a great imjDression on Nechtan, and to have convinced
or silenced the most learned of his ecclesiastics ; and he was induced by his
conviction of truth or his zeal of proselytism, to command that the Roman
modes, with regard to both those points of discipline, should be learned and
observed tliroughout his dominions (t). But ancient customs do not easily
give way to legislative regulations ; and many of the Columbans, who offi-
ciated among the northern Picts, and adhered to their ancient practices, were
expelled by the zealous Nechtan. Bede delights to tell, at the close of his
history, that the nation of the Picts was at peace with the English people,
and rejoiced in being made partakers of the Catholic verity with the universal
church.
Nechtan, like the great Constantino, was also induced by his own tempera-
ment and the ignorance of his people, to request of Ceolfrid, the successor of
Benedict Biscop, the improver of the Northumbr'ian regions, to send him ar-
(r) Bede, lib. iv., ch. xii. : Innes's MS. Eccles. Hist., sub. an. 6G8, 671, 681. Trumwine appears
to have been a very active member of the Council of Tw3'ford in a.d. 685, the proceedings of which he
signed by the name of " Trumvine Pictorum Episcopus.'' Monast. Anglican, v. i., p. 46 ; Wilkins's
Concilia, v. i., p. .56.
(s) Bede, lib. v., eh. sxii. (<) Id.
328 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book 11— The Pictish Period.
diitects, in order to build a church after the Roman manner ; he promised,
indeed, to dedicate the sacred edifice to Saint Peter, and to follow the edifying
mode of the apostolic worship. The architects wei-e certainly sent (»), but
whether any church was built, history and tradition are silent [x). In an age
when Saint Andrew, the celebrated patron of North-Britain, was unkno^vn.
Saint Peter appears to have been httle regarded. To his name, notwithstanding
the assurances of Nechtan, few churches were dedicated either by the Picts or
Scots, whatever there may have been to the more renowned Patrick, who owed
his birth to the first people, and his celebrity to the last.
It is a singular event, which Bede considers as wonderful, that the Colum-
bans who converted the Northumbrians to Christianity, should, by the North-
umbrians, be converted to the catholic rites of life. At the end of eighty years
from the mission of Aidan, Ecgbercht had the eloquence to induce the monks
of Hy, with their abbot Dunchad, to rejoice in the certain hioivledge of the catholic
time of celebrating the Easter Festival [y).
The zeal of the Northumbrians in that age, induced them to revive the ne-
glected bishopric of Ninian at Candida-Casa. In a.d. 723, under the reign
of Osric, and during the Episcopate of Wilfrid in York, was Pecthelme con-
(ii) Bede is positive upon the point. Lib. v.. ch. xsii.
(x) At Abemethy, in Stratliearn, the supposed capital of the Picts, there is a very ancient
church, which was built in an age that is beyond memorj' ; but while its origin defies conjecture,
it was certainly dedicated to Saint Brigid by the command of the zealous Nechtan. There is here
also, as well as at Brechin, a round tower of great antiquity, and of very remarkable proportions,
being eight feet two inches in diameter and seventy-two feet in height ; but there are no such
towers in Northumberland, while there are many such in Ireland. Ledwich's Antiq. of Ireland,
p. 300. By those circumstances I am induced to think with Pennant that the tower at Aber-
nethy was built by the Scots during the Scottish period. Pennant's Tour, v. ii., p, 166-183.
The common Ii-ish name for the round towers in Ireland is Clogha, which in the Gaelic literally
signifies a belfry, from cloff, a bell. Collect. Hibern., v. iii., p. 308, ; Lhuyd's Arch. ; O'Brien.
Many of those towers have for several centuries been used as belfries. Collect. Hibern. The
fact is that the round towers are everywhere found adjoining to churches ; and from all those cir-
cumstances it is more than probable that they were originally constructed for the purpose of bel-
fries soon after the introduction of Christianity. It is certain that beUs were in common use at
eveiT religious establishment in the British islands during the earliest ages of Christianity ; and
where there were bells there must have been belfries. Columba appears plainly to have introduced
a bell into the monastery of lona. Adamnan's Life of Columba, lib. i., cap. viii. They were
thence, no doubt, introduced into all the Columban churches of the Caledonian regions. The use
of bells was equally carried into Northumberland by the Columban bishops who taught the
religion of Christ to the Northumbrian people. See Whitaker's Hist. Manchester, v. ii., p. 416,
4to edit.
(i/) Bede, lib. v., ch. sxiii.
Cli. VIL— r/ie Introd. of Christianity.'] 0 p M 0 E T H - B B I T A I N . 329
secrated bishop of Whithorn for the spiritual government of a confidmg
people (s). Pecthelme was succeeded during the eighth century by several
prelates of equal prudence and greater energy (a). The anarchy which, in
the Northumbrian territories, succeeded the assassination of ^thelred in a.d.
794, seems to have deprived Whithorn of its episcopal authority. From the
commencement of the ninth century the people of that diocese appear to have
submitted to the inconvenient jurisdiction of the bishop of Man, amidst the
intrusions of various tribes and the confusions of disputed authorities.
Such was the introduction of Christianity into North-Britain, and such were
the forms which it everywhere assumed during illiterate ages. On the con-
tinent the church had long acquired a complete establishment, and was gene-
rally governed by known canons, which, as they had been settled by universal
consent, every Christian community was bound in the opinions of those times
to obey. The greater authorities appear in the earliest times to have gone
before the less. The apostles preceded bishops, bishops preceded pres-
byters, and presbyters went before deacons. Christianity existed before
bishoprics, and bishoprics before parishes. Of this order we see the ap-
pearances in North-Britain during those ill-informed times ; but at the end of
the Pictish period, in 843 a.d., we neither perceive any parishes laid out nor
observe any establishment settled ; yet of the Culdees, who are supposed by
polemics to have governed the churches in that period, inquiry cannot find
the smallest trace (6).
With the introduction of Christianity is connected the practice of se-
pulture. The burning of the dead was an universal practice during Pagan
times. This earliest usage was relincjuished as Christianity pi'evailed. This
change became general among the Romans during the age of the Antonines ;
(i) Saville's Chronologia, ap. Scriptores post Bedam.
(a) The following is a chronological list of the earliest bishops of Whithorn : (1.) Pecthelme was ap-
pointed in 723, and died in 735. (2.) He was succeeded by Frithwald, who died in 763. (3.) He
was followed by Pechtwine, who died in 777. (4.) To him succeeded iEthelbert, who attended the
council of Calcluth (Spelman's Councils, p. 289) ; and died in 790. (5.) He was succeeded by Ead-
wulf, who is said by Saville to have been the last of the bishops of Whithorn. (6.) Usher, how-
ever, has given Eadwulf a successor in Heathored, during the year 800. Saville's Chronologia,
Usher's Primord., p. C66. After this epoch, and during the anarchy in Northumberland, the Scots,
coming from Ireland into Galloway, submitted themselves to the bishops of Man. Usher's Primord.,
666-7, 1172.
(i) The Culdees are not mentioned by Adamnan in his Life of Columba, nor by Bede in his Eccle-
siastical History. The Scottish Culdees were first mentioned by Fordun in his Scoti-chronicon during
the fourteenth century. Lloyd's Church Government, ch. vil. Boece improved on the Culdean fables
of Fordun.
Vol. L Uu
330 AnACCOUNT [Book ll.—The Pictish Period.
and the decent ceremony of burial had universally obtained in the time of Mac-
robius, who flourished under Theodosius, at the end of the fourth century (c).
In A.D. 402 St. Chrysostom says there was not a Christian city, town, nor
village in the world which had not a cemetery connected with them {d). In
this fact the other fathers of the church agree with him, though it must be un-
derstood that the cemetery in those times of Christianity lay without the towns.
The connection between cemeteries and churches seems to have been as early in
this island as the buildinfr of such sacred edifices. The Christianized Britons
had their cemeteries thus connected. The converted Saxons had their burial
places equally conjoined with their churches soon after the arrival of Augustine
with his missionaries ; and we may easily suppose that the Chi'istianized
people of North-Britain in the same manner adopted the common practice
by dedicating the church yards to the holy purpose of biu-ying their deceased
relatives (e).
In speaking of the topics in this chapter, we may perceive how much it is
the business of history to follow mankind whatever may be their pursuits, either
of colonization or warfare, of legislation or anarchy, of religion or fanati-
cism ; to relate the events which were the consequences of their efibrts, and
to offer the instruction that results from their actions.
(c) See Dr. Woodward's letter to Sir Christopher Wren, 1712, 8vo ; and Sir Thomas Brown on
urn hurial.
(d) Douglas's Nenia, p. 126.
(e) Whitaker's Hist. Manchester, v. ii., p. 411-12 ; Douglas's Nenia, p. 125. In fact, the Cambro-
British term Llan was applied to the church3'ard as an enclosure before it was appropriated to the
church. Owen's Diet, in voce.
Ch. I.— The Union of the Pkts and Scotsri OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 331
BOOK III.
THE SCOTTISH PEBIOD. 843 to 1097 a. d.
CHAP. I.
Of the Union of the Picts and Scots.
THE Scottish Period of this Account of North-Britain, extending from the
accession of Kenneth MacAlpin in a.d. 843, to the demise of Donal-bane in
1097, however dark, will be found to contain several events of great import-
ance in the North-British annals. The union of two sejDarate nations into one
monarchy, as it augmented the power of both, and by the ascendency of the
Scots, gave at length their name to theb common country, must be peculiarly
interesting to rational curiosity. In this period we shall perceive the Strath-
clyde kingdom of the ancient Britons merge in the Scottish nation. We shall
see, meantime, the ancient territories of the Selgovte, the Novantes, and
Damnii, colonized by successive emigrants from Ireland, who gave their settle-
ments the name of Galloway ; and who, by a strange fortune, became known
under the appropriate appellation of the ancient Picts. Cumberland will be
found to have sunk, after the suppression of its reguli, into an appendage of the
Scottish crown by the doubtful ties of an obscure title. After some bloody
struggles throughout this period of more than two centuries and a half, Lo-
thian we shall see annexed to Scotland, by the lasting connection of rightful
cession and mutual advantage. We shall behold the circumjacent isles to be
at length felt as neighbours, and feared as opponents. It must be the busi-
ness of this period then, to trace the history of all those countries and people
from different sources ; to illustrate their singular laws from new principles ; to
investigate their manners and customs from analogous proofs ; and to ascer-
tain their antiquities and language from a temperament of philology with
interspersious of history.
Soon after the commencement of the ninth century, events occurred which
led to the suppression of the Pictish government, and thereby effected the union
of the Picts and Scots. sDiputes were indeed to be expected in a barbarous
Uu2
332 An ACCOUNT [Book II.— The Scottish Period.
age between irascible tribes, who having many motives of enmity, were often en-
gaoed in conflicts. In the eighth century, as we have seen, a civil war broke
out among the Picts, which lasted with various fortune throughout a dozen
years, and which proved fatal to their chieftains and princes, either in open
battles or from deliberate assassination. These destructive conflicts were suc-
ceeded at intervals by civil contests among themselves, or by foreign wars
with the Scots, which at once enfeebled and in the end annihilated the
Pictish o-overnment. Those hostile collisions between the Picts and Scots
were at length mitigated by the gentler ties of marriage. Eocha IV. the king
of Scots, married Urgusia, the sister of the Pictish kings, Constantiii and
Uno-us II. (a). Alpin, the issue of that marriage, did not live long enough to
claim the Pictish sceptre in right of his mother on the disastrous, yet honour-
able demise of Uven in 839 a.d. He left a son, however, who knew his
rio-hts, and had spirit and power to enforce them (6). Kenneth, the son of
Alpin, an enterprismg warrior, found the Pictish people involved in domestic
and in foreign war. After the expulsion and deaths of Drest and Talorgan
in 836, Uven ascended their shattered throne ; but he honourably lost his life
and sceptre in a bloody conflict with the Danes, who had invaded his unhappy
people in 839 a.d. (c).
(«) The genealogical sketch which is subjoined will explain the family connections of the two royal
families much more distinctly than any nan-ative :
TJegus.
I
^ —
CoNSTANTiN, the SOU Ungus, son of Urgus Urgusia, the daughter | rEocHA IV., K. of the
of Urgus K. of the K. of the Picts from of Urgus, married ^ -v- ■< Scots from 796 to
Picts from 791 to 821 to 830. to " - - "J I ( ^26.
821. I I
Uven, the son of Alpin, K. of Scots from 833 to 836.
Ungus K. of the |
Picts from 836 to
839, when he fell Kenneth, the son of Alpin, K. of
in battle with the Scots, A° 836, obtained the Pictish
Danes. government in 843 a.d.
(b) Innes' Critical Essay, v. i., p. 141 ; and we must on this occasion recollect what Bede relates, a
contemporary writer, who knew what he states to have been the Pictish constitution in his own time,
" that as often as the succession was in doubt, they should choose their king rather of the next of the
" house of the woman than of that of the man." Lib. i., cap. i.
(c) In 839, saith the Ulster Annals, a battle by the Gals (Danes) upon Fortren men (the Picts),
wherein fell Owen ilacAongus and Bran Mac- Angus (Uven the son of Ungus, and Bran the son of
Ungus), Acd Mac Bran, and a multitude of their followers.
Ch. I.— The Union of the Picts and Scots.'] OpNORTII-BEITAIN. 333
It was the death of Uven, the male heir of the Pictish crown, which opened
the prospect of the succession to Kenneth, a grandson of Urgusia. The Pictish
Uven, the Owen of the Irish chroniclers, was succeeded in the governn-ient
of a distracted people by Wrad, who, at the end of three years of distui-bed
administration, died in 842. He was followed both in his government and
misfortunes by Bred, who was slain at Forteviot, the seat of his power, in
843. In the quick succession of those events we may easily perceive the dis-
traction of the Pictish affairs, which led on to the annihilation of the Pictish
authority by the overpowering ejBForts of the enterprizing Kenneth.
During such confusions amidst a rude people, whose forms of government
were little fixed and whose laws were less regarded, the loss of a battle or
the death of a king was an adequate cause of an important revolution. Of all
those events Kenneth dexterously took advantage, and finding no competitor,
he easily stepped into the vacant throne. In his person a new dynasty began.
The king was changed, but the government remained the same. The Picts
and Scots, who were a congenial people, from a common origin, and spoke
cognate tongues, the British and Gaelic readily coalesced. Yet has it been
asserted by ignorance and believed by credulity, that Kenneth made so bad an
use of the power which he had adi-oitly acquired, as to destroy the whole
Pictish people in the wantonness of his cruelty. But to enforce the belief of
an action which is in itself inhuman, and had been so inconsistent with the
interest of a provident sovereign, requires stronger proofs than the assertions
of uninformed history or the report of vague tradition (a). The Picts con-
tinued throughout the present period to be mentioned by contemporary
authors (h), because they still acted a conspicuous part, though they were
governed by a new race, and were united with a predominant people.
Yet is it doubted by modern scepticism whether the Scots conquered the
Picts or the Picts overcame the Scots (c). Doubts may be entertained indeed
as to the particular circumstances which are supposed to have attended that
important revolution ; but whether Kenneth, the Scottish king, overturned the
Pictish government and united the two people as the two families of the
(a) Innes has employed upwards of twenty pages of erudite investigation to refute tliat absurd story
of systematic writers. Critical Essay, vol. i., p. 145-166.
(J) Asser. Ap., Gale, fol. 1G5, sub an. 875 ; Sax. Chron., ed. Gibson, p. 83 ; Ethelred Ap., Saville,
cap. iii. ; and the Appendix to Nennius, Tigernao, and th= Ulster Annals, as quoted by Usher.
Primord., fol. ed., p. 375.
(c) Enquiry into the History of Scotland, 1789, vol. ii., p. 1-19-174. The late edition of Sibbald's
History of Fife upon the doubtful authority of the Enquiry.
334 An ACCOUNT [Book III.— T he Scottish Period.
kings were already united, there can be no reasonable question. The ancient
chronicles, the constant tradition, and a thousand facts all uniformly speak of
those events as certain ; as indeed the consequences would demonstrate by the
interesting union of two hostile nations, who in future formed one people that
inhabited a common country (d).
((/) The Chronica Pictorum whicli Innes published in the App. to his Crit. Essay, No. ii., from
the Colbertine Library, mentions Bred, who was slain at Forteviot in 843, as the last king of the
Picts. The ancient Chronicon of the Scottish kings from Kenneth, the son of Alpin, to Kenneth,
the son of Malcolm, which Innes has published in his App. No. iii. from the Colbertine Library,
also asserts that the son of Alpin reigned sixteen years over Pictavia. . The Chronicle in the
Register of the Priory of St. Andrews (Inn. App. No. v.) speaks of the translation of the Scottish
kings into the kingdom of the Picts. The Chronicon Bythmicum (Innes' App. No. vi.) asserts the
same fact in other language. The document (Innes's App. No. i.) De Situ Albania;, in the same
manner, states the same event in terms equally explicit. Fordun may be safely called as a witness to
the same tradition. Hearne's ed., lib. iv., cap. ii. iii. Wyntoun also speaks to the same point in
the language of his age :
"^ " Quhen Alpyne this kyng wes dede,
" He left a sowne was cal'd Kyned :
" Dowclity man he wes and stowt ;
" All the Peychtis he put owt
" Gret Bataylis, than dyd he
" To pwt in fredume his cuntre."
Wyntoun goes on to show that " Kyned browcht the Scottis owt of Ergyle ; and quhare that
" the Peychtis had before than thair dwellyng he gert thame dwell, and wes thair king, in
" A.D. 843." But the maps of Fife, Perth, Forfar, the Meams, and Aberdeen, which were
the appropriate countries of the Picts, are the records which have transmitted the thousand facts
that are mentioned in the text. They prove that the greatest number of the names of places
in those eastern shires are significant in the Scoto-Irish language which was ingrafted on the
Cambro-British, and in no other tongue, as the dictionaries both of the Celtic and Teutonic
demonstrate. The thousand facts, then, are decisive with regard to the doubt whether the Scots
overcame the Picts or the Picts conquered the Scots, for those places could only have received
their Scoto-L'ish names after the Scots overran those countries subsequent to the epoch of
843 A.D.
Ch. II.— The United Kingdoms.^ OfNOETH-BKITAIN. 335
CHAP. II.
Of the Extent and Names of the United Kingdoms.
THE union of the Picts w-ith the Scots in A.D. 843 necessarily conjoined
the separate dominions of both, and led on to the annexation of other
territories.
The Picts had been confined for ages before that epoch by the Forth on
the south and Drumalban on the west, and by the German Ocean on the
east and noi'th. Their southern limits had been early fixed by the prevalence
of the Roman power. They were induced probably by the long continuance of
that power to consolidate the distant districts of the various tribes which had
from the earliest times divided their country by their spirit of independence,
and enfeebled their strength by their desires of revenge.
We may trace up to those ages of disunion and disaster the tradition which
came down to the twelfth century that Pictavia had once been separated into
six kingdoms (a). The first was supposed to extend from the Forth to the Tay
having Athrin, one of the Ochil hills, for its eastern boundary, as indeed the
name of Aith-rin imports, signifying the 'pointed mount. The second was said
to comprehend Fothreve and Fife, having the Forth, the sea, and the Hilef
for its confines (b). The third kingdom was, according to that tradition,
bounded by the Hilef and the Dee, comprehending the fine countries of
Angus and Mearns. The fourth realm extended from the Dee to the Spey,
comprising Aberdeen and Banff. The fifth kingdom had for its narrow
limits the Spey and Drum-alban ; and to the sixth realm were given the
(a) See tlie Document, De Situ Alhani/v, in Innes's App. No. i. The information from which
Giraldus Cambrensis formed that description of Albany, he acknowledges to have derived from
Andrew, the bishop of Caithness, who died a.d. 1185.
(b) The Hilef was plainly the Isla which joins the Tay, and which was called Yliffe in the Taxatio
of 1175 (Chart, of Arbroath), and gave a name to the parish of Glen-Yliffe, This appellation may be
found in the British Y-lif, the flood, or inundation, and is very descriptive of the qualities of that
mountain stream.
836 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book m.—T/ie Scottish Period.
extensive regions of Muref and Ross. Those fictitious monarchies had Ions:
ceased to exist before the memorable Union of the Picts and Scots, except in
the natural divisions of the country, as they had been named by a Celtic
people.
The Scots at that epoch possessed the whole western coast from the Clyde
to Loch-Torridon with the adjacent isles. We have seen the Scoto-Irish settle
on the headland of Kintyre, as the name imports, at the commencement of the
sixth century. As colonists arrived and population increased they gradually
extended their settlements to the bordering continent and to the neighbouring
islands. In two centuries of active enterprize they made an extensive progress.
In the days of Bede their colonies extended from the northern margin of the
Clyde along the shores of the Irish sea far into the north (c). During the
effluxion of another century they occupied the amp)le extent of Argyll, from
the river Clyde on the south to Loch-Ew and Loch-Maree on the north,
and from the sea on the west to Drumalban on the east (d).
By the voice of fiction, and indeed by the recitals of history, the seventh
kingdom of North-Britain was declared to be Arregaithel (e). The limits of
tliis celebrated country have not occasioned so much contest as the etymology
of its appellation. " lar-ghael is said not to be the name of the country but
" of those who inhabited it ; signifying the Western Gael in opposition to the
" Eastern Gael or the Picts that inhabited the shore of the German ocean {/)."
Yet both the fact and the principle of this explanation have been controverted,
and Argathel, or lar-gael, or Argyle, is said to signify nothing more than
the Irish (g). There is indeed reason to believe that this name was imposed
on that region by a Gaelic people in an age when the geographical distinc-
(c) Bede, lib. 1, ch. 1.
(rf) Innes, p. 769. From its great range, Arg3'll in its extreme parts, came to be known by
tbe names of the Soutliem and Northern Argyll. The charter which Eobert I. granted to
Eandolph in 1312, for the Comitatus of Moray, describes its boundaries to run "per mare usque
" ad marchias boreales Ergadiae, et sic per marchias illas, usque ad marchias Eossiae." Lord
Kame's Law Tracts, p. 102 ; Shaw's Moray, App. No. i. ; Eobertson's Index to the Eecords,
p. 49, which quotes Hadington's Collections. In 1342, David 11. granted the lands of Kentaile,
in Northern Argyll, to Eeginald the son of Torkil. MS. in the Pap. Off. In 1366, William, Earl of
Eoss, granted the district of Gerloch, " infra partes Ergadiae," to Paul Mactyre. Hay's Vindic. of
Eliz. More, p. 18 ; and Eobertson's Index, 98-114. From those documents and the maps, it clearly
appears that Loch-Ew and Loch-Maree in Eoss, formed the northern boundary of Argyll during the
fourteenth century.
(«) " De Situ Albaniie," Innes's App. No. i. (/") Macpherson's Introduction, p. 148.
(f/) Whit. Genuine History of the Britons, p. 287.
Cli. II.— The United Kingdom.').'] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 337
tions of the east and west were little understood {h). Ear-gaoldhal or Ear-
gaoil, sig-nified merely the limit or boundaiy of the Irishmen or Gael (i) ;
and the appropriate appellation of the people, who inhabited this region for
ages after their settlement in 503 a.d., was obviously applied to the country,
as the Picts gave their name to Pictavia, and the Scots communicated the lasting
appellation of Scotland to North-Britain in a subsequent age (F).
Such were the dominions which the Scots brought with them, when, by
overpowering the Picts, an Union was effected between them, both of authority
and territories. Modern wi'iters, indeed, have formed for both those people
claims which they never formed for themselves. It appeal's not that the Picts
ever claimed the Orkneys, the Hebrides, Galloway, or Lothian. Of historians,
it is the common fault to apply the prevailing prejudice of their own times to
(h) The Irisli word Tar signified, merely in its original import, after, behind; and secondarily came
to signify the west, relatively to persons facing the east at public worship. O'Brien's Ii-. Diet., sub.
lar and Eirin.
(i) See the Diet, of O'Brien and Shaw, sub. Earr and Gaoidhal. This exposition corresponds
with the etymology of Andrew, the Bishop of Caithness, who told Cambrensis, " Aj-regathel
" dieitur quasi luargo Scottorum, seu Hybemensium." Innes's App., No. i. This form of the
word agrees nearly with the old spelling, and in the Ii-ish pronunciation corresponds well with the name
of Argyle.
Qc) The name of Argail, Ardgail, or Arregaithel was originally applied to the middle district
of that country which lies between Kintyre and Knapdale on the south, and Lorn on the
north. In the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries it formed the middle division of the Scoto-Iiish
territories, and was inhabited by a particular tribe, who are frequently mentioned in the Annals of
Ulster as the sept of Ardgail. This district may probably have derived its appellation from
the name of its inhabitants, for in the topography of Ireland during the middle ages we see
that most of the petty divisions were named from the clans who occupied them, or from their
chiefs. Ware's Ant. Hibem., ch. vii. The custom of our ancestors, says O'Flaherty, was not to
take names and creations from places and countries, as it is with other nations, but to give
the name of the family to the seigniory by them occupied. Ogygia Vindicated, p. 170. So the
district of Lom got its appellation from Loam, one of the sons of Ere. Considering the
name as borrowed by the district from the tribe, the meaning of the appellation as applied to the
tribe is not very obvious. The name Ard-gail, as in the Annals of Ulster, would signify the
noble Gael, or Ard-gacil would signify the noble family or kindred; and the names of Earr-
gail and Ean'-gaoil would convey the same meaning. O'Brien and Shaw's Diets, in vo. Ard,
Earr. and Caoil. Arigh-gael would signify the chiefs of the Gael. lb. Eirc-gael, or Eire-gaoidhal,
would denote the Irish Gael, or the Gael of Ireland. If, however, the name was local, the most
probable derivation would certainl}' be Earr-gaoidhal, or Harr-gael, the limit or border of the Gael.
As the names of Alban and Caledonia were extended to the whole of North-Britain, so the
name of Ardgail or AiTCgathel, was in the middle ages extended to the whole country on the
west coast from the Frith of Clyde northward to Loch-Ew and Looh-Maree in Ross, as we
have seen.
Vol. I. X X
338 An AC C 0 U N T [Book llI.—T/ic ScottM Period.
past events. They do not consider tliat nations must exist before they can
enjoy i-ights, either to retain or relinquish. England, any more than Pictavia,
could neither form pretensions nor enjoy privileges, till the dissolution of her
octarchies gave her the animation of existence with the energies of unity.
The several districts of Britain appear to have acquired various names during
the successive ages of their devious progress. The nearest parts of South-Bri-
tain to Gaul were called Albion from a view of its heights. It was denominated
by the Britons themselves, in their own language, Ynys-Prydain, the beautiful
isle ; and it soon obtained from its native designation the classical name of
Britannia, which was early given by the Roman writers, and which it will late
retain as the distinguishing appellation of the mistress of the ocean. North-
Britain was equally called in the earliest language, Alban, or the upper
region ; and it was sometimes recognized by this ancient name as late as the
recent period of the twelfth century (I) ; but from the nature of the country,
which was covered with woods, and from the speech of the inhabitants, that
was obviously Celtic, North-Britain was called by Tacitus, as we have seen
Caledonia. The sister island had also its classic names, which were suiserseded
during the middle ages by the well-known appellations of Hibeiiiia and Scotia,
the Ireland and Scotland of Alfred [m).
The Scots, who emigrated to Kintyre in 503, not only carried with them
their language, their manners, and their laws, but the name of their original
country. Yet, during the subsequent century, Adamnan, who died in 704
A.D., and who was acquainted with Ireland as well as with Britain, applied
the name of Scotia to Ireland (n). Bede, however, though he speaks of Bii-
tannia and Hibernia, never mentions Scotia, though he speaks of the Scots in
Britain ; but the venerable and intelligent monk calls the Scoto-Irish coun- •
tries of Kintyre, Argyll, and Lorn, " Septentrionalis Scottorum provincia (o)."
(/) In tlie Irisli Annals the name of Alban continued to be used even long after the twelfth, century.
Indeed, the Irish people have continued this name to the present time ; and they call the Scottish
people Albanaich.
(ill) Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius, by Daines Barrington, p. 14. See before, book ii.,
eh. iii.
(«) The biographer of Columba, in speaking of the departure of his predecessor from Ireland
to Britain, says that Columba sailed " de Scotia ad Britanniam." Vit. Columb. 1789, p. 58-60.
Orosius, as we have seen, equally applied the same name of Scotia to Ireland three centui'ies before.
BaiTington's edit., p. 3.
(o) Bede, 1. iii., cap. iii. The Irish antiquaries and their followers have mistakingly applied the
expressions of Bede to the northern division of proper Ireland. Ware's Antiq., cap. iii., and Harris's
Ware, p. .50. In the age of Alfred the northern parts of Britain were known to the navigators of that
period by the apposite name of Ireland. Barrington's Orosius, p. 15-256.
Ch. II.— The United Kingdoms.'] OpNOETH-BRITAIN. 339
While the whole coast of Argyll was thus the province of the Scoto-Irish, the
more eastern districts of North-Britain acquired the name of Pictavia, owing
to the residence of the Picts. From these intimations it is sufficiently obvioiis
that the name of Scotia was not applied to North-Britain till the union of the
Scots with the Picts gave a real cause for its application (o). After that epoch
the united kingdom was not mentioned under the Latin designation of Scotia,
or the Saxon name of Scotland till another age had elapsed, and the Picts be-
came completely mingled with the Scots. In 934 a.d., the Saxon Chronicle
inform us that Athelstan invaded Scotland by sea and land (p). From this
period the Saxon Chronicle frequently mentions Scotland as the well known
name of North-Britain {q). As early then as the tenth century, the preva-
lence of the Scoto-Irish people conferred their appropriate appellation on the
country which Kenneth had acquired, as much by his valour and address as
by his descent and right. Such were the different names which the British
islands adopted, relinquished, and retained, during many ages of their various
fortunes ; and North-Britain acquired the title of Scotland, and her inhabitants
the name of Scots, which the many changes of new people, new laws, new
conjunctions, and new manners have not been able yet to efface.
(rt) See the Document, No 1, in Innes's Appendix, "De Situ Albaniae ;" it is herein said during
the twelfth century, " Pictavia nunc vero corrupte vocatui' Scotia." In the same Dociunent the name
is variously spelt Pictinia.
(})) Gibson, p. Ill : the Chronicle of Mebose, under the same year, records that " Eex Athelstanns
" vastavit Scotiam usque Dunfeoder ; " and Flor. Wig. 349.
(q) Gibson, IS 3, &o.
Xx2
340 An ACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
CHAP. III.
Of the Orkney and Shetland Isles.
IT was soon after the year 875 that Harald-Harfagre, havmg united the
several provinces of Norway by a naval victoiy, j)ursued the fugitives into
Shetland and Orkney, subdued the islanders, and there established the
authority of his vigorous government. His whole power the conquerer dele-
gated to Sigurd, the son of Eystain and brother of Eognwald, who is praised
by Worinius as a poet (a). Him Harald created the first Earl of the Orcadian
dynasty (h) ; and after him a long succession of Earls ensued, wdio, amid
their dissensions and piracies, probably yielded but slight subjection to the
Norwegian kings (c). It was an age of barbarism, when protection could only
be gained by slavery, and wealth could be most easily obtained by plunder.
Toi'f-Eyner, who ruled the Orkneys about the year 930, first taught them the
use of turf for fuel during the scarcity of wood (d). In 980 the Orkney
men were converted to the Christian faith, which had been early intimated to
them by the zealous Columbans, and at length perfected by Saint Magnus (e).
At length Sigurd, the son of Laudver and the fourteenth Earl, succeeded his
father in 996 A.D. (/). He appears to have been a personage of great vigour,
much enterprize, and many possessions. He enjoyed the Orkneys, Caithness,
and Sutherland, with a tribute from the Hebride isles ; and he also for a time
established his power on the coasts of Ross and Moray. He was of the
blood of the vikingr, and he did not disparage the race by his adventures.
The eastern shores of North-Britain felt his frequent piracies. Yet about the
year 1006, he married for his second wife a daughter of Malcolm II. the
king of Scots (g). Sigurd was at length engaged by those motives which
(a) Literatura Runica, p. 195. (A) Torfseus's Oroade?, p. 10, 11 ; Orkneyinga Saga, p. 1.
(c) See tlie " Oatalogus Comitum Orcadensium, Ordine Clironologico," in the Orkneyinga Saga,
p. 558.
{(I) Orkneyinga Saga; Torfaeus's Oroades, 19. (e) Torfseus's Orcades, cli. ii.
{/) Gunlach-Sagan, p. 102. Note 69 ; Torfeus Ore, p. 27.
{[/) Snorre, t. i., p. 532-3 ; Orkneyinga Saga, p. 5-87 ; Torfseus Orcades, p. 33.
Ch. m.— Orkney mid Shetland.] 0 p N 0 R T H - B E I T A I N . 341
were most seductive among vikingr, to aid Sigtrig, the sea king of Dublin ;
and in April 1014, the potent Earl of Orkney and Caithness, fell in the
bloody field of Clontarf, fighting against the renowned Brien Boromhe, the
illustrious king of all Ireland (h). Sigurd by his first wife left four sons,
Einar, Sumerlid, Brusi, Rognwald ; the eldest of whom succeeded to the
Orkneys. By the daughter of Malcolm, Sigurd left a son, Torfin, who, as
he was born in 1009, was five years of age at the death of his father. When
Sigurd set his ill-omened sails for Dublin, he left his infant son in the parental
care of the Scottish king (i). When the fate of Sigurd was known, Malcolm
put his grandson in possession of Caithness, and such other tei-ritories as still
remained to Sigurd, after his many conflicts on the Scottish shore (k).
Torfin resembled his father in his stature of body, vigour of mind, and
ambition of enterprize. At the age of fourteen, Torfin commenced his career
as a vikingr. His sails often disquieted the coasts of Scotland during the reign
of his grandfather. He refused the usual tribute to the gracious Duncan, v\-ho
marched into Moray to enforce its payment. He engaged in avowed warfare
with the Scottish king ; and he had the honour, during this revolt, to engage
in hardy conflicts with "brave Macbeth, who well deserved that name." Tor-
fseus claims for Torfin, in a doubtful tone, the success and the advantages of the
war ; but Shakspeare bestows with poetic praise, the victory and the reward on
" peerless Macbeth (l)." Yet was not the power of Torfin crushed, nor his
ambition lessened. He engaged in hostilities with his father's sons in Orkney.
One of them he slew in battle, another he obliged to flee, and from his
elder brother he wrested several islands. He compelled the Hebrides to yield
him tribute. He emulated the Scottish kings in splendour, and equalled them
in power. It was the fleets of the vikingr which gave them such superiority
over the Celtic kings, their contemporaries, who never engaged in naval
afiairs. Wearied at length with savage grandeur, and feeling " the com-
" punctious visitings of nature," he went to Rome for remission of his
crimes (m) ; and returning from the seat of pardon with mitigated feelings,
Torfin died about the year 1074, aged 65 years (n). He left by his wife
lugiburga, two sons, Paul and Erland, who enjoyed his possession both in
(h) Id. Ware's Antiq., 8vo. ed., p. 114-15.
{{) For tlie history of this great Earl, see Torfeeus's Orcades, c. x. {/:) lb. c. sii.
(/) The whole of this war, which is interesting from the contending parties and the Drama of
Shakespeare that is partly founded on it, is related darkly by Torfeeus, Orcades, c. xiii. ; and see the
Orkneyinga Saga, p. 5-29, 35, 71, 74, 87.
(jn) Torfaeus, Ore, p. 64-5. (») lb., p. G5 ; Orkneyinga Saga, p. 87.
342 AnACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
Orkney, and in Caithness, and who died about the year ] 090. But the time
was at hand when the Orkneys were to submit to a new master. In 1098,
Magnus Barefoot, the powerful king of Norway, reduced to complete subjec-
tion both the jjeople and their rulers. From this event those islands enjoyed
some repose, and some traffic rather than adventurous piracy, under one sove-
reign in the place of many tyrants (o).
The Scandinavian people who settled, as we have seen, in the Orkney and
Shetland islands, in Caithness, Sutherland, and the Hebrides, during the ninth
centiuy, built many stone forts of rude construction for the purpose of defence
against the desidtory attacks of their piratical countrymen, who so frequently
scoured those coasts in quest of prey during the ninth and tenth centuiies.
The strong towers which the Scandinavians thus erected they called Burgs,
which in their language signify strengths or places of defence; and most of those
stone forts still retain their original appellations. By the Scoto-Irish people
in the Hebrides, in Caithness, and Sutherland, these stone forts are called Duns,
which in the Gaelic is synonymous to the Scandinavian Burgs; and several
of those strengths are pleonastically called Dun-borgh, but tradition uniformly
states them to have been erected by the Scandinavian settlers on those inhos-
pitable shores.
During late times many of those edifices in the Orkney and Shetland islands,
and in Caithness, have been erroneously called Pictish castles, Pictish towers,
and Picts houses, from a fabulous story that attributes to Kenneth MacAlpin
the impolicy of driving many of the Picts into the northern extremity of our
island, whence they fled to the Orkney and Shetland isles, where they found
shelter and settlement. But those appellations have never been given to any
of the Scandinavian Burgs in the Hebrides, nor even to those in the western
part of Sutherland.
That the whole of these Burgs or strengths were erected by the Scandinavian
settlers in the Orkney and Shetland islands, in Caithness, and in the Hebrides,
and not by the Pictish or British people, may be certainly inferred from the
following considerations :
Those Burgs or strengths only exist in the countries where the Scandina-
vian people effected settlements. They are only seen in the Orkney and Shet-
land islands, in Caithness, on the coast of Sutherland, and in the Hebrides,
with a few on the west coasts of Ross and Inverness. The original and
proper name of those strengths is Burg, which is the Scandinavian term for
(o) Sim. Dun. 223 ; Cliron. Mailros, sub an. 1098. Snone relates the adventures of this king in
the sentiment of mythology and the language of romance.
Ch. UL—Orhietj and Shetlayicl^ OpNOETH-BRITAIN. 343
a fort, and most of them still retain this appellation, and have communicated
this name to the places where they are situated (jj). But not one of these
strengths bears any appellation from the Fictish or British language. The
recent appellation of Pictish castles or Picts-houses, has only been given to
those in Orkney and Shetland, in Caithness, and in Sutherland ; but none
of those westward of Strath-Naver have ever been called Pictish castles or
Picts houses, though the same kind of streng-ths equally exists along the west
coasts of Sutherland, throughout the Hebrides, and the west coasts of Boss
and Inverness. In all those countries tradition uniformly states them to have
been built by the Scandinavian settlers.
Those strengths in the Orkney and Shetland islands, in Caithness, and in
Sutherland, which have been recently called Pictish Castles and Picts Houses,
are in every respect similar in their form, structure, materials, and situation,
and appear to have been constructed for similar purposes as those on the west
coasts of Sutherland, Ross, and Inverness, and in the Hebrides, which tradi-
tion uniformly assures us were erected by the Scandinavian people, and to
which the names of Picts castles and Picts houses have never been applied (q).
(p) Stat. Acco., V. i., p. 401. Even somfi of tlie loclis. in wliich tliey are jilaoerl upon islets,
Have got from those erections the name of Burgo-water. lb., v. xx., p. 112. It is therein stated
that there are eight Pictish buildings, called Burijhs, in the parish of Walls and Sandness. A number
of them in North Maven are called Burghs or Picts-houses. lb., v. xii., p. 365. Near Dunbeath ia
Caithness, says Pennant, there is an entire Picts castle, called the Burg of Dunbeath. Tour in Soot-
land, V. i., p. 17C.
{q) Those strengths in the Orkney and Shetland islands and in Caithness, as well as those in
the Hebrides and on the west coasts of Sutherland, Boss, and Inverness, are situated generally
on rising grounds along the sea coast, two or three and sometimes more of them being in sight of
each other. They are all constructed of stones, without any kind of cement, and many of those
stones are of an extraordinary large size, but in general they are very well fitted together in the
building. Those buildings are all of a circular or somewhat elliptical fonn, and are of different
sizes. The larger ones appear to have been from 20 to 40 feet high, forming three or four storeys
of apartments between the outer and inner walls ; but the tops of most of them have been more or
less demolished. The smaller ones vary from 10 to 20 feet high, forming one or two storeys. The
interior area of the larger ones varies from 30 to 50 feet diameter, and of the smaller ones from
17 to 30 feet diameter. They have two walls, one within the other, having an open space
between them all round from four to five feet wide. In those which are most entire this space
appears to have been divided off into a number of separate apartments. A few of the smallest had
only one wall. The walls gradually contract in the circumference from the foundation upwards,
and the outer wall appears to have been joined to the inner one at the top. The larger ones are now
open at the top, but whether they were originally so is not certain, as the tops are somewhat
demolished. Some of the smaller ones still exhibit a covering at the top of long flat stones, which
are overlaid with sods. The entrances are in general low and small, most of them being no
34-4 AnACCOUNT [Book m.—The Scottish Period.
Some of those Burgs, which are called Pictlsh Castles in Shetland, are placed
on islets in small lochs, having a causeway leading to them somewhat under
water for the purpose of concealment. In the same manner some of the
Scandinavian Burgs in the Hebrides, which are of a similar structure, are also
placed in a similar situation, on islets in small lakes, having in the same manner,
a causeway under water leading to them (r).
Those Burgs, which are called Pictish castles and Picts houses in the Orkney
and Shetland islands, and in Caithness, have no similarity to any of the
strengths or places of security of the genuine Picts or British tribes in North-
Britain. The British strengths were formed by fortifying the tops of eminences
with fosses and ramparts of stone and earth (5). The Pictish tribes never
reared any such stone towers or forts in North-Britain as those burgs which
have been erroneously called Picts castles in Orkney and Shetland ; and it
must be remembered that the British Picts never were in Shetland, and con-
sequently could not have erected those buildings to which their names have
been improperly applied.
Tlie secondary appellations of Picts castles and Picts liouses which have
been given to those burgs in the Orkney and Shetland islands, and in Caith-
ness, have entirely sprung from the fabulous story before mentioned. But
it is certain that the Union of the Pictish and Scottish governments produced
no such effects as to drive the people out of the country ; and it must be
recollected that the Scandinavians were at the same time in possession of the
Orkney and Shetland islands, which were of course not open for the Pictish
settlements.
From the foregoing intimations, it is sufficiently apparent that neither the
Picts nor Scots had any pretence of right over the Orkney and Shetland
isles. The contemporary inhabitants of both were of a different lineage as we
have seen, and owed their obedience to their original country. The Picts and
Scots, far from subduing them, were often harrassed by those enterprizing
more tlian three feet higli and two feet and a half wide. The remains of these strengths exhibit on
the outside the appearance of a cone having its top cut off. The largest ones are somewhat like
modern glass-houses. Gordon's Itin. Sept., p. 166-7, and pi. 65 ; Martin's Western Islands, p. 8,
153, 270 ; Pennant's Tour, v. i., p. 171, 176, 319, v. iii., p. 219, 292, 337 ; and the Stat. Account
of Scotland. In the MS. description of those of Glenelg, by the Reverend Mr. Maclver, which
he sent to me in March, 1799, he observes "that Professor Thorkelin, who visited the Hebrides
" in 1787 and saw several of these strengths, said that similar edifices are still to be seen in Norway
" and Denmark."
(r) Stat. Acco., vol. v., p. 200; lb., v. sii., p. 365 ; lb., v. six., p. 271 ; lb., v. xx., p. 112.
Is) See b. ii., ch. i.. § 2.
Ch. Ul.—Orkneij and Shetland.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 345
islanders (t). We shall find in the course of our inquiry, that the Scottish
kings acquired by negotiation those many Islands which they were unable to
obtain by conquest (u).
(t) Sagan of Ghinlaug, p. 169.
(m) When the Hebude isles were transferred in 1266 by Magnus IV. to Alexander HI., the Orkney
and Shetland isles were excepted. See the Treaty in Torfaeua's Orcades, p. 199 ; Torfaeus Hist. Nor-
way, V. iv., p. 343 ; and see Eobertson's Index, p. 101, for a confirmation in 1312. By the maiTiage
treaty between James III. and Margaret, the daughter of Christian, king of Denmark, in 1468, the
Orkney and Shetland isles were rather pledged for her dowry than assigned to Scotland. Torfaeus's
Orcades, p. 191-95. They were, however, soon after released for ever, and on the 20th of February,
1471-2, they were annexed to the crown by the Scottish parliament. In Anderson's Chronological
Deduction of Commerce, v. i., p. 41, 73, 122, 253, there is much apocryphal history with regard to
the Orkney and Shetland islands.
Vol. I. Y y
846 AnACCOUNT [Book Ul.—Thc Scottish Period.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Hebrides or Western Isles.
THE conclusion of the ninth century is an epoch in the history of the
Hebrides as well as of Norway. At that era the disjointed states of the
Scandinavian peninsula were united by the successful valour of Harald-
Harfagre (a). He followed the discontented fugitives into the Orkneys and
the Hebrides, which had furnished them retreats, and enabled them to retaliate
on his dominions. But neither the difficulty of the navigation nor the ob-
scurity of the isles saved them from his vengeance. In a.d. 881 he pursued
them mto their fastnesses. Wherever his ships ajjpeared victory attended their
sails (b). His return to Norway was, nevertheless, the conspicuous signal for
the re-establishment of the former authority of the Hebridean chiefs. Harald
regarded the resumption of their privileges as an insult offered to his power,
and he sent Ketel with a fleet and army to repress the presumption of the
chiefs, and to I'e-establish obedience to his power (c). But Ketel only con-
quered for himself This ambitious officer obliged the Hebridean leaders to
acknowledge liim for their prince by the payment of tribute. He confirmed
them in their old privileges ; he formed intermarriages with their daughters ;
and such was the efficacy of those measures, that Ketel remained master of
the Hebridean isles during his life, notwithstanding the fame and the threats
of Harald, who had other objects for his ambition to follow (d). Harald-
Harfagre is said to have died in a.d. 933, aged ninety-one (e).
After the death of Ketel a new dynasty arose in the Isle of Man, which, iu
the days of Bede, contained only three hundred families (f) ; and from the
(a) Torfseus Hist. Norway, t. ii., 1. ii., cap. 12. (A) lb., p. 77. (c) Id.
(d) Torfseus Hist. Norway, torn, ii., 1. i., cap. xxix. (e) lb., 66-72.
(_/■) Bede Hist., 1. ii.. cap. is. From this fact we may infer that the people of the Western Islands
in that age were not numerous.
Ch. TV.— The Hebrides.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 347
narrowness of its dominions was thenceforth a dependent monarchy till it
snhmitted to Alexander III., the Scottish sovereign, on the resignation of the
Norwegian king (g). The Hebrideans and their chiefs wei'e never from that
period perfectly independent of Norway, though they were subject to the
kingdom of JMan and paid tribute to the earls of Orkney and Caithness. They
acknowledged their vassalage during the subsequent ages, by receiving rulers
from the Scandian peninsula, which could easily enforce obedience on the
appearance of her fleets, and by paying tributes which they coiald not withhold ;
but to retain them in subjection was more difficult, from the distance of the
power which was to engage their reverence and to command their submission.
During a part of the tenth, and most of the eleventh centuries, Sigurd, the
earl of Orkney, and his son Thorfin, treated the Hebrides as dependant ter-
ritories (h). At length Magnus the barefooted, the Norwegian king, came
into those seas with an irresistible fleet. He laid waste the Hebrides ; he
obliged the people to seek for shelter in Scotland ; he compelled the chiefs to
bow down to his power ; and in the year 1098, he completely subdued the
Orkneys, the Hebrides, and Man ; avowing that he came to enforce ancient
rights rather than to acquire a new authority (i).
It is not very easy to discover what right the Picts or Scots could claim over
the western isles, either in their separate or united state. The Picts had not
any jurisdiction over the British tribes, who, residing in those islands during
those early ages, were as independent as themselves. The Scottish kings may
have had, indeed, some authority over the Scoto-Irish colonists who inhabited
the nearest isles. The conquest of Harald-Harfagre broke asunder the slight
ties of connection which may have existed between the Celtic people who lived
in North-Britain and the Hebrides. The irruption of Magnus during the civil
contests of Scotland, confirmed the rights of Norway ; and the Scottish kings
acquired by treaty, during the happier age of Alexander III., the Western
Islands, which, in the present period, they were unable to conquer by power or
to retain by patronage (k).
(g) Camden, ed. 1753, vol. ii., p. 1439; Chronicle of Man, edit. Johnston; Torfaeus's Orcades, p.
199 ; Torfseus's Hist. Norway, v. iv., p. 343.
{h) See the Orkneyinga Saga; Torfaeus's Orcades; Sagan of Gunlaug, p. 169.
(i) Torfaeus's Norw. Hist., torn, iii., cap. iv. v. ; Chron. Man, ad an. 1098 ; Chron. of Mailros, ad
an. 1098 ; Simeon of Durham, p. 223.
(k) From those facts we may see how groundless the imputations are which attribute the sale of
those isles to the corrupt motives of Donal-bane ; and how romantic the story of Snorro is, when he
348 AnACCOUNT [Book HI.— The Scottish Period.
The influence of this cession aided the zeal of the Scoto-Irish colonists in
spreading into every islet of the Hebrides ; and in the progress of colonization,
they acquired such a complete ascendancy over the Scandinavian settlers, as to
suppress the Gothic language and establish their own Gaelic speech, which was
recently the common tongue in every part of those islands (l).
talks of Magnus having then obtained Kintyre by trick. The act of cession by Magnus to Alexander
m., is in Torfseus's Norw. Hist., v. iv., p. 343. This was confirmed by a deed that was executed be-
tween Robert I. and Haco V,, king of Norway, the 28th October, 1312. Robertson's Index, p. 101.
Torfeeus passed over the story of Snorro as a romance.
(/) See the Statistical Accounts of the several parishes in the Hebrides.
Ch. Y.— Cumbria.} OfNOETH-BRITAIK. 349
CHAP. V.
Of Cumhria, Strathclyde, and of Galloway.
SECT. I.
THE north-east part of Cumberland, from the Dudden to the Kershope, was
inhabited, as we have seen, by British tribes at the great epoch of the Roman
invasion. The aboriginal people were subdued and civilized by their more
disciplined invaders. After the Roman abdication, the Romanized Britons
maintained a long and gallant but unsuccessful warfare with the North-
umbrian Saxons, who appear to have over-run a great part of Cambria before
the demise of Oswy in a.d. 670. In 685, when the furious Ecgfrid was
about to set out on his fatal expedition into Pictavia, he granted to St. Cuthbert,
Carlisle, which yet preserved its Roman form, and still exhibited its Roman
beauty, with the surrounding territory (a). The pagan Danes in subsequent
times over-i'unning this western region, deformed what was beautiful and
defiled what they touched. Edward the Elder appears at various periods of
his reign to have extended his power over Cambria, and to have enforced the
submission of the Cumbrian kings (h). Their notions of subjection in that age
seem to have been very imperfect. They obeyed the power which during the
season of hostility they could not resist. Thus the Cumbrian Britons either
submitted or resisted as they felt the pressures of superiority. By this con-
duct Edmund appears to have been provoked to invade Cumbria, which Dun-
mail, its king, gallantly tried to defend ; but he was overpowered on the bank
of Raisbeck river, where a large Carnedd of stones was raised by his aftectionate
people to mark the disastrous site of his'unhappy fall. The conqueror with
savage rage, mutilated the two sons of the vanquished Dunmail, the last of the
Cumbrian reguli (c).
(a) Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert, c. 27 ; and Smith's Bede, p. 782.
(6) Flor. Wig., p. 336-347, under the years 901, 921 ; and R. Hoveden, p. 421-422.
(c) Flor. Wig., p. 351 ; E. Hoveden, p. 423 ; Mat. Westminster, p. 366. On the mountainous
pass between Cumberland and Westmoreland, near the road which leads from Keswick to Ambleside,
350 AnACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scoliifh Period.
Edmund now transferred the country which he had wasted and the people
whom he had humbled, to Malcolm the Scottish king, on the condition of
amity and aid [d). Indulf, the king of Scots, is said to have appointed in
953, Duff", the son of Malcolm I., regulus of Cumbria (e). Duff', the son of
Malcolm, was presumptive heir of the Scottish crown as tanist. If we were to
form an opinion from the fact, rather than the authority, we might presume
that it was the office of the tanist of Scotland, as presumptive heir of the
kingdom, to govern Cumbria as his right. Duff" ceased to rule Cumbi-ia
when he became king of Scots in 961 a.d. Malcolm, his son, appears to
have succeeded Duff" as regulus of Cumbria (/). Duff" was dethroned by
Culen in 965. Yet Malcolm continued long to rule the Britons of Cumbria
He was one of the eight reguU who are said to have met Edgar at Chester
in 973 (g). Meantime Kenneth III., the brother of Duff", succeeded to tlie
Scottish crown during the year 9 70, accordmg to the settled usage, in pre-
ference to his nephew, Malcolm the Cumbrian regulus. On his accession
Kenneth III, renewed the appointment of Malcolm as regulus of Cumbria (h).
The king of Scots may have exercised this power of naming the reguli of
Cumbria without possessing the greater power of abrogating the ancient usage
which regulated the succession to the crown. The fact seems to warrant this
intimation. Ambition, however, too often vaulted over the usage, and by
assassination or a battle, seized the bloody diadem. The death of Malcolm
about the year 989 opened the succession for a new regulus of Cumbria.
The ambitious Kenneth III. nominated his own son Malcolm, though he was
there is a large cairn of stones, called Dunmail-ivran.i, which tradition states to have been erected to
commemorate the defeat of Dunmail by Edmund. Pennant's Tour, v. iii., p. 37 ; Bum's Cumberland,
V. i., p. 149 ; with the map prefixed ; and see Speed's Map of Cumberland, No. 45. In Wales there
are similar cairns, with a similar name applied to them, signifying the stones of cognizance ; whence
we may infer that the Dunmail-icra^.? stones mean merely the memorial stones of Dunmail.
{(1) Id. ; Sax. Chron., p. 115 ; Fordun, 1. iv., c. 26, intimates, indeed, that it was then agreed be-
tween Edmund and Malcolm, that every heir-apparent to the Scottish crown should hold Cumberland
as a fief of England. This is the mere talk of Fordun's times. From the English chronicles we know
that in fact there was no such stipulation ; and that the notions of feudality were not thought of in
945 A.D.
(e) Fordun, 1. iv., c. xxvii.
(/) Fordun, 1. iv., c. 30, says, in the idiom of his age, that Duff appointed his son Malcolm as
regulus of Cumbria ; and he always speaks of the several successions of the reguli of Cumbria as ap-
pointments of the reigning king of Scots.
{g) Flor, Wig., p. 359 ; Sim. Dun., p. 129.
{h) Fordun, 1. iv., cap. ssx;
Ch. Y.— Cumbria.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 351
still young (/). Kenneth III. was succeeded in the Scottish throne in 994, by
Constantin IV. ; and he was soon after followed by Kenneth IV., the son of
Duif. During their disasti'ous reigns, Malcolm, the son of Kenneth III., ruled
in Cumbria ; but in 1003, after a violent conflict, he defeated and dethroned
the gallant son of Duff, and he now assumed the gory sceptre under the name
of Malcolm II. He appears to have been a prince, able, valiant, and ambitious.
He refused Ethelred the demanded Danegelt, in 1000 a.d., because none was
due ; and the English king thereupon wasted Cumbria, which could not resist
a conjoint attack both by land and sea (k). Malcolm II. appointed his
grandson, Duncan, regulus of Cumbria (l). He appears to have governed it
during the subsequent part of the long reign of his grandfather. But succeed-
ing at length to the crown in 1033, he nominated his son Malcolm Cean-
more in his stead (m) ; and the son of Duncan continued to rule with
the aid of his uncle, Siward, that dependency throughout the Avhole usurpa-
tion of Macbeth, without any apparent molestation. When he at length ac-
quired the contaminated crown, he seems to have continued to rule Cumbria,
having no son, probably, whom he could nominate to the government as
regulus. At length William the Conqueror, after much contest with Mal-
colm Ceanmore, annexed Cumbria to England as a conquest, which he
granted in 1072 to Ranulph Meschines, to be held by the tenure of the
sword (n). Ptanulph transferred many parcels of that disputed territoiy to his
warlike followers, in consideration of military service (o). From that epoch
(i) Fordun, 1. iv., c. xxxvi. (Z-) Flor. Wig., p. 309 ; Fordun, 1. iv., c. xxsviii.
(?) Fordun, 1. iv., c. xlix.
()/() Fordun, 1. iv., o. xlix. Flor. Wig., p. 410, intimates that Dnncan, the father of Malcolm
Ceanmore, was regulus of Cumbria; rex Cwnhrorum, says he. Sim. Dun, p. 187, concurs with
Florence. DugJale indeed states that in 1042 Edward the Confessor committed to the
charge of Siward the counties of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Northumberland. Baronage,
V. i., p. 4. The fact probably was that Duncan, having married the sister of Siward, may
have been assisted by this powerful earl in the government of Cumberland, who may have overawed
Macbeth.
(ft) Flor. Wig., p. 4.38 ; Holland's Camden, p. 787 ; Gough's Camden, v. iii., p. 209 ; Dugdale's
Monast.; v. i., p. 400 ; Hutch. Hist. Cumberland, v. i., p. 20 ; v. ii., p. 17-19.
(o) The limits of Cumberland were probably the same in that age which they have continued to the
present times. What had been granted by Edmund to Malcolm in 945 a.d. was now given by the
conqueror to Meschines in 1072. It is certain that the northern boundary of the cotiunitutus Cuiabrice
was the Solway, the Esk, the Kershope, and the mountains which send their kindred waters by those
channels to the Irish sea ; for it is a fact that Eanulph Meschines granted to his followers various
districts which lie along the southern banks of those rivers, and which prove by theii- positions the
352 A N A C 0 0 U N T Book III.— [The Scottish Period.
the whole economy of Cumbria was changed when the privileges of the
ancient people were annihilated by a single stroke of feudism ; and to that
grant of the conqueror may be traced up a new race of inhabitants, who trans-
mitted rights which are invariably recognised even down to the present
day(p). .
In this manner, then, was the Cumbrian territory separated from the Scottish
kingdom. After the demise of Edgar, in 1107, David, the youngest son of
Malcolm Ceanmore, became prince of the Cumbrian region, which lay on the
north of that dividing line, but not of Cumbra-land, that was then possessed
by Ranulph Meschines, though David, in 1136 and 1139 A.D., acquired it from
Stephen by his warfare and negotiations (q).
northern extent of Lis Cumbrian possessions. Camden, ed. 1753, p. 1039-42, 1059-62 ; Dugdale'a
Monast., V. i., p. 400; Bui-n and Nicholson's Cumberland, v. ii., p. 401-64, 48G ; and Hutohison'a
Cumb., V. i., p. 20.
(p) There is a charter of David, after his accession to the Scottish throne, which is dated at
Carhsle, and is addressed to his men : " Cumberlandiae, Francis, Anglicis, et Cumbrensibus." Dug-
dale's Monast., v. i., p. 399. We thus see that Cumbria had now acquired the name of Cumberland,
and that it was inhabited by Normans and English, as well as by the ancient Cumbrians. The
sudden change in the ancient population of Cumbria is very remarkable. We may see the cause by
adverting to an important notice in the Saxon Chronicle, p. 198 : "This year, 1092, King William,
" with a great army, went into the north, restored Carlisle, and built its castle. Returning into the
" south, the king sent a great multitude of English, with their wives and flocks, to inhabit and culti-
" vate that northern land."
(5) Chron. Maikos. It is seldom that history is able to produce such an authority for such a fact
as the document which I shall submit for the deductions in the text. It is the " Inquisitio Davidis
" Principis Cumbrensis de terris ad ecclesiam Glasguensen pertinentibus facta, a.d. 1116," which
has been more than once published from the Chartulary of Glasgow. The original Chartulary,
which was carried to France by Archbishop Beaton at the Eeformation, is now in my library.
The authenticity of this Inquisitio is unquestionable. It is, in fact, the inquest of a jury which,
like other verdicts of juries, must be admitted as undoubted truth. By this inquest the Cum-
brian region was declared to be situated " inter Angliam et Scotiam." Now, the northern
boundary of England on the west, as we have seen, was the Solwaj', the Esk, and the Kers-
hope ; and the Scotia or Scotland of that age lay on the northward of the Forth. This
general intimation of the Inquisitio is still more confirmed, not only by its own facts, but also by
several other documents in the same Chartulary, which attest that the Cumbrian region of Prince
David extended from the Solway, the Esk, and the Kershope on the south, to the Upper Forth
and Loch-Lomond on the north ; and from the L'ish sea and the frith of Clyde on the west,
this region ranged eastward to the confines of Lothian and the Merse. The grants of Earl
David to the monastery of Selkirk, in the Chartulary of Kelso, confirm the documents in the
Chartulary of Glasgow as to the eastern extent of the Cumbrian region, by shewing that the
territory of David, as Prince of Cumbria, extended into Teviotdale. The northern boundary of
Ch. Y.—Strathclyde.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 353
Without such a document as the Inquisitio for our guide through the dark
paths of the middle ages, and such certainty for our conviction, it would be
vain to examine the chroniclers of the twelfth century, whose researches were
feeble and whose expressions are loose when they speak of the Cumbrian
region.
SECT. II.
THE congenerous tribes of Strathclyde felt, during the Scottish period, the
same wounds of war, and partook of the same species of polity as the Cum-
brian Britons on their southern limit ; and the Strathclyde Britons remained,
though some of them emigrated to Wales after the conclusion of the Pictish
period, upwards of three centuries and a half a distinguishable people, under
the appropriate name of Walenses, amid the English, the Normans, and Gallo-
way Irish, who all settled during that long effluxion of changeful time throughout
the Cumbrian territory (a). Yet whoever is ambitious of accuracy in historical
research concerning those separate tribes, must carefully distinguish Cumber-
land from the Cumbrian region, which was undoubtedly distinct throuo-hout
the present period of the Scottish predominance.
After the death of Alpin in 836, the Strathclyde Britons were involved on
their western border in the vigorous hostilities which enabled his son
Kenneth to acquire the government of the Picts. During those hostile events
England, before David acquired Cumberland in 1136-9 a.d., is again referred to in bis Charter
of Annandale to Eobert Bruce, which bounds his grant on the south by the limits of Eanulph
Meschines.
(a) There remain three charters of David I., which are addressed appropriately, "Francis, Anglis,
"Scottis, et Galwensibus." Diplom. Scotise, pi. xiv., and xviii. ; Dug. Monast., v. ii., p. 1054. There
is a charter of Earl Henry, the son of David, which is also addressed, " Francis, Anglis, Scottis, et
"Galwensibus." Chart. Kelso, No. 240. There are four charters of Malcolm IV., which are addressed
in the same manner to those four x'aces of men. Diplom. Scotiae, pi. xxii. and xxv. ; Chart. Antiq.
Brit. Mus. ; Chart. Glasgow, p. 299. There is a charter of William the Lion, which is also addressed
in the same manner to the same distinct lineages of men. Ayloffe's Calend., p. 348. There is one
charter of Malcolm IV., and one of his brother William, which is addressed still more particularly,
"Francis, et Anglis, Scottis, Walensibus, efc Galwensibus." Chart. Glasgow, p. 203, 205. These last
charters we see were specially addressed to the people of the bishopric of Glasgow, which compre-
hended the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde.
Vol. I. Z z
3r.4 An ACCOUNT [Booklll.—TI,c Scottish Period.
the Britons appear to have carried their flaming torches to Dunblane (h). Ku,
the Caw of the Welsh chronicles, seems to have been then the king of the
Britons. His hostility witli Kenneth appears to have ended by the marriage of
Ku with the daughter of the Scottish king. From the epoch of this reconcile-
ment, more intimate connections began between the two nations of Britons
and Scots. As people of tlie same lineage, they furnished kings for each
other. We shall find that the marriage of Ku with the daughter of Kenneth,
produced Eocha, who held the Scottish sceptre for a while with Grig (c).
This connection, however, did not protect Ku from the violence of Artga, who
envied his pre-eminence and connection. His fall was avenged by Coustautia
11. , who, in giving his protection to his sister and his nephew, Eocha, procured
the death of Artga in 871 a.d. (d).
The time was now come when the Britons of Strathclyde wei'e to feel other
evils, and to partake of the misfortunes of the greatest nations, from the
wretched manners of piratical times. The Vikingr, who had now settled on
the Irish shores, found an easy course into the secluded Clyde. In 8 70 they
besieged Alcluyd, which, after a blockade of four months, they sacked (e).
The spoilers proceeded, without resistance, after the British capital had fallen,
to plunder the surrounding country ; and they returned during the subse-
quent year to Dublin, the seat of their adventures, with many captives, Bri-
tons, and Picts (/). The Strathclyde Britons were obliged to submit to the
scourge of the Danish Halfdane, the AttUa of Northern Britain in that age ;
and in 875, the Vikingr, sallying from Northumberland, wasted Galloway
and Strathclyde ((/). The Orchards of Lanark had no longer their former
attractions for the harassed Britons (i). Many of them meditated an emigration
to Wales, the congenial land of the ancient Britons, the safer country of a rude
(h) The Cliron., No. iii. in Innes, states expressly tliat in tlie reign of Kenneth MaoAlpiu the Britons
burnt Diilh/aaii.
(c) Chron. No. iii. in Innes ; and the Enquiry, 1789, v. i., p. 493.
(d) Ulster Annals.
(e) Brompton says the Danes destroyed Alcluyd in 869 A.D., which may be the true date.
(/) Ulster Annals; Ware's Antiq., p. 108; Ogygia, p. 48i ; Usher's Primordia, p. 719;
Caradoc.
((/) Sax. Chron., p. 83 ; Asser. edit. Wise, p. 27 ; Usher's Primordia, p. 719. Some other inroads
are said to have been made into Strathclyde by the Saxons. Chron. Princes, a.d. 940 ; Welsh
Archaiol., v. ii., p. 395 ; Welsh Chron. of the Saxons ; lb. 487. Caradoc states those events under
943 A.D. lb., p. 489.
(i) Merthin, the Caledonian poet, delighted to sing of the Avallenau, or the apple trees of Lanark.
Welsh Archaiol., v. i., p. l.')0.
Ch. Y.—Strathclijde]. 0 F N 0 E T H - B R I T A I N . 3.-,5
age. In 890 the emigrants departed under the conduct of Constantin, their
chief, who appears to have been encountered and slain at Lochmaben. His
followers, however, seem to have repulsed the assailants, as they successfully-
forced their way into Wales. Anarawd, the king, who was hard pressed by the
invading Saxons, assigned them a district, which they were to acquire by their
valour and defend by their policy. This generous condition they performed
by assisting the Welsh to defeat the Saxons in the battle of Cymrid, and to
drive the odious intruders from the disputed land. The descendants of the
Strathclydensian emigrants remain a distinguishable people in North- Wales
even to this day (k).
The emigration of the bravest Britons of Strathclyde added nothing to the
extent of their country, and conveyed still less vigour to their government.
Their limits were daily narrowed by the Scoto-Irish on every side ; they were
overawed by the Anglo-Saxon princes, and they were dictated to by the
Scottish kings. In 924 they were oppressed by Edward, the Elder (/). In
973, Dovenal, their king, gratified the pride of Edgar at Chester (m). Every
event evinced either the dependence, or the fall of the aboriginal Britons of
Strathclyde. About the year 920 they lost their king, Dovenal. Constan-
tin III. had influence enough to obtain the election of his brother Donal, the
son of Aodh {n). This prudent choice appears to have ensured many yeai^s of
peace between the two congenerous nations. In the midst of this happiness the
death of Donal transferred his unimportant sceptre to his son Andarch. This
tranquility Avhich was equally convenient to both the nations, was at length
disturbed by the misconduct of Culen, who ascended the Scottish throne in
965. He had the wickedness to violate the chastity of his own relation, the
{k) Welsh Cliroii. of the Princes. Caradoc gives an interesting account of this migration. Welsh
Archaiol., v. ii., p. 482; and see Lhuyd's Comment., ed. Williams, p. 41. The boundaries of the
country, which the bravery of the emigrants won, would be tolerably well defined by a line drawn
from Chester through Holt, Wrexham, Oswesti-y, and turning to Mold, by Euthin and Denbigh, to the
sea. The descendants of those emigrants who dwell in Flintshire and in the Vale of Cluyd are distin-
guished from their neighbours by a remarkable difference of person and speech. They are a people
taller, slenderer, with longer visages ; their voices are smaller and more shrill ; they have many
varieties of dialect ; and generally their pronunciation is less open and broad than what is heard among
the Welsh, who live to the westward of them.
(0 Saxon Chron., p. 110 ; Flor. Wig., p. 347.
. (m) Flor. Wig., p. 359 ; Sim. Dunelm, p. 129. The British king is called by those chroniclers
Dnfnall.
(n) Chron. No. iii. in Innes ; Fordun, 1. iv., cap. xxi.. alludes to this event, though be has mistaken
the circumstances ; and W. of Malmsbury makes the same allusion with more mistakes. Saville's
Script., p. 150.
Zz2
356 AnACCOUNT [Book 111.— The Scottish Period.
grand -daughter of Donal. This insult revived the native spirit of the Britons.
They flew to arms under Andarch, their injured king, They marched into
Lothian, where they were met by the Scots. A sharp conflict ensued between
irascible combatants ; and on this bloody field Culen lost his guilty life, with his
brother Eocha, in 970 A.D, (o). Andarch, however, did not long survive the vic-
tory, which does honour to the descendants of those British tribes, who equally
opposed Agricola in battle. He was succeeded by Dunwallon, who was doomed
to be the last of the Strathclyde reguli. It was he who administered, under a dif-
ferent form, his name to the vanity of Edgar in 973 a.d. Kenneth III. seized
the sceptre of Culen without any purpose of revenging his fall. He was of a
different family, and converted the fate of Culen to a step for his ambition to
vault into the throne ; but finding the Scots engaged in war with the neigh-
bouring Britons, his policy resolved to convert this incident to his own interest.
He renewed the war of Strathclyde with vigour. Success attended his course.
The fall of the independent state of the Strathclydensian Britons was decided on
the gory field of Vacornar, where the victor lost many a warrior (p). In 9 75,
Dunwallon, his gallant antagonist, retired to Home, where he took the cowl,
since he could not retain the diadem {q).
Dunwallon, which was the British form of the Irish Dovenal or Donal, was
undoubtedly a descendant, perhaps a son of Dovenal, the son of Aodh, the
brother of Constantin III. Nor must Dunwallon be confounded with Dunmail,
the king of Cumbria, whose two sons were mutilated by the barbarous policy
of Edmund in 945 (r). The ancient Britons of Strathclyde became now
wholly mingled with the Picts and Scots ; and Strathclyde, their congenial
(o) Chron. No. 3 in Innes ; Chron. in the Eegister of St. Andrews, in Innes's App. No. 5 ; Chron.
Elegiacnm ; Ogj'gia, p. 487 ; Ulster Annals, sub an. 970.
(j;) Clirou. No. 3 in Innes.
((/) The Welsh Chron. of the Saxons, and Caradoo, state in 97.5, that Dunwallon went to Eome,
took the cowl, and there died. Welsh Archaiol., v. ii., p. 489-494. The Welsh Chron. of the
Princes relate this event in 970. lb., 394. But this chronicle is generally four or five years behind
in the dates of its notices, as appears by comparing it with the Saxon Chron., with the Irish Annals,
and with the Scots Chronicons. Williams, in his edition of Lhuyd's Commentariolum, states
the abdication of Dunwallon in 974, from the Welsh Annals. But the above are the correct
dates from the Welsh Chronicles as they are printed in the Archaiology ; and the year 975 must
be regarded as the genuine epoch of the final annexation of the Strathclydensian kingdom to the Scot-
tish crown.
(r) Williams in his Note on Lhuyd's Commentariolum, p. 41-2, and Langhorn, have mistakingly
supposed Dunmail and Dunwallon to be the same.
Cli. Y.—Gallowau.'] 0 F N 0 R T H - B E I T A I N. 357
country, was for ever annexed to the Scottish crown by the successful efforts of
Kenneth III., who long enjoyed the ripe fruitage of his conduct, which was as
prudent as it was valorous.
SECT. III.
FROM the foregoing history, it is apparent that the vast peninsula which
is formed by the Solway, the Irish sea, and the Clyde, was inhabited during
the fifth century, by the descendants of the Selgovaa, the Novantes, and the
Damnii. The Northumbrian Saxons, as we have seen, over-running the
peninsula, retained the ascendancy which their superiority of character, more
than their greatness of numbers had given them, during the two subsequent
centuries. The anarchy, however, which prevailed in Northumberland at
the conclusion of the eighth age, gave a fatal shock to the Saxon power, which
was not supported by a numerous popiilousness within that extensive region.
The Northumbrians had only mingled with the Romanized Britons who occu-
pied the country after the abdication of the Roman government. Yet had
the zeal of Osric, the Northumbrian king, established the bishopric of Candida
Casa or Whithorn in 723 A.D., which came to a premature end with Eadwulf,
who was appointed the last of the bishops of Whithorn in 790 a.d. (s). The
Saxon population had always been scanty within those boundaries, and the
Saxon authority was annihilated when the Northumbrian dynasty became
extinct at the end of the eighth century, when that great peninsula was not yet
known by the name of Galloivay {t).
(s) Saville's Clironologica Script, post Bedam.
(t) Id. Bede, who gave the history of that episcopate, did not know the country by the name
of Galloway. The notices of topography come in here usefully to illustrate the obscurity of
history. The maps of Galloway exhibit but very few old Saxon names of places, which could
have been applied as early as the eighth century, a sure proof that the first of the Saxon in-
vaders of this country could have made few settlements in that early age. In the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright we may trace a few Saxon names which correspond with the fewness of the Saxon
settlers till recent times. The Saxon Merse is applied in some instances to fenny tracts, which
had been previously denominated Corse by the Britons. The Saxon Biircf, a fort or town, ap-
pears in a few names : as Borr/ parish, Burgh in Colvend, and Biybvrf/h in Crossmichael. There
is only one instance of the Saxon Bertj, a hill, which appears in its English fonn of Berry, in
Raeien7/-hill. There are only two examples of the Saxon Wic, in the names of Eerwiclc and
SonthivicJc. The Saxon Bye only appears in the name of Bombie ; and there is only one instance
of the Saxon Ilayn, in Bdingharn and Twyn/iam. The Saxon Cleugh, a ravine, appears only in
two names. There are a few instances of the Saxon Hleatve or Law, a hill : as Law in Berwick,
358
An account [BookllL— The Scoitkh Period.
An opening was thus made for a new colony within those ample con-
fines (it). The Cruithne of Ireland, like their progenitors during the Eoman
period, had engaged, meantime, in frequent enterprizes against the opposite
coasts of North-Britain, though without much success {x) ; and it was not till
the end of the eio-hth century that the Cruithne made a more successful at-
tempt near the Einns of Galloway on the westward, when the British Novantes
had been weakened by the domination of the Northumbrian power. Here the
Ulster-Irish commenced a settlement ; and to this commodious shore they
were successively followed by fresh swarms from the Irish hive during the
ninth and tenth centuries, while the Danish sea kings insulted the sacred
island ; and the Cruithne were joined in their new settlements by the kindred
Scots of Kintyre, who, crossing the Clyde in their currachs, had settled on the
opposite shores of Cunningham and Kyle {y).
It is more than probable that the Irish Cruithne who thus colonized the
ancient country of the Novantes, and Selgovee, communicated to the Irish %et-
Ward /n!r in Balmaclellan, Green-Zau' in Orossmicliael, Law in Minniegaff. The greater part of those
names, perhaps, were applied to the sites of places in Galloway, subsequent to the Irish colonization
of that country. Of this position the name of i?a»--macach-/az« furnishes a plain intimation, as the
Saxon Law, a hill, was obviously grafted, like some other names, on the Irish Bar, a heijht, which
had been previously applied. The only river which appears in Galloway to have a Saxon name is the
Fleet, from the Anglo-Saxon Fleot. The Saxons, who domineered in West Galloway or Wigtownshire
during the 7th and 8th centuries, imposed very few names on places, because having a very inconsider-
able population, they formed few settlements, and they became merged among the more numerous
Britons. A few of the old Saxon names they did impose during those ages perhaps, such as Whit-
horn, C\xamg-ham, Ci-aig-hofle, Apple-%, lies-iralt, Mers-iown, Brugh-ton, Wig-ton, and Craig-tew.
Such, then, are the only names which can be pointed out as old Saxon appellations, that may have been
probably imposed during the Saxon rule ; and even some of those, as the town, laiv, and burgh, may
have been applied in more recent times, as the Scoto-Sason speech continued here in use through
many subsequent ages. The remainder of the Scoto-Saxon names are merely English, which were
undoubtedly applied, in some subsequent periods, to the Irish colonization of Galloway, after the fall
of the Saxon government, at the end of the eighth century.
(w) Malmsbury, 1. i., c. iii. ; Usher's Primovdia, 8vo, p. 667, 1172 ; Gough's Camden, v. iii.,
p. 330-1.
■ (a:) In 682 a.d. Cathasao, the son of Maoledun, then Maormer of the Ulster Cruithne. sailed with
his followers from Ireland, and landing on the frith of Clyde among the Britons, he was encountered
and slain by them near Mauchline, in Ayr, at a place to which the Irish gave the name of Rathmore,
or great fort. In this stronghold Cathasao and his Cruithne had probably attacked the Britons, who
certainly I'epulsed them with decisive success. Ulster An., sub an. 682. In 702 the Ulster Cruithne
made another attempt to obtain a settlement among the Britons on the frith of Clyde ; but they were
again repulsed in the battle of Culin. lb., sub an. 702.
(jj) Bede, 1. i., ch. i. ; Usher's Primordia, p. 612.
Ch.Y.— Galloway.'] Of NOETH-BEIT AIN. 359
tiers there, the name of Picts, as we .<^ee it in the chronicles of the eleventh
and twelfth centuries. The Irish colonists were denominated Cricithne in their
native land, — Criiithneach, in the Irish speech, signifying Picts; and it was as
natural for those settlers to call themselves, and to be called by others, by the
translated name of Picts, as it was easy for ignorant chroniclers to transfer to
the Gaelic settlers from Ireland and Kintyre, the well-known name of the
genuine Picts of North -Britain. The fact carries up conjecture to probability.
It was undoubtedly owing to all those Gaelic colonists, within this vast penin-
sula, that the new colony obtained in recent times the characteristic name of
Gallwallia, Galloividia, GaUowagia, Gallwadia, Galwegia, Gallway, Gallo-
way (a). The name of Galloway is not mentioned by Bede, though he knew
the country. It is not noticed by the bishop of Caithness, when he wrote ex-
pressly " de situ Albanice," as we learn from the documents in Innes's Cri-
tical Essay ; and the first authentic notice of this name is in Earl David's charter
to the monks of Selkirk, before he acquired the crown in 1124. From all
those intimations, we may conclude that this great peninsula did not obtain the
name of Gcdivcia or Galloway, till some time after the commencement of the
Scottish Period.
The name, thus recent in its origin, and barbarized in its form, was probably
derived from some hay, whereon some strangers settled. The capacious bay of
(rt) Camden's Brit., 1604, p. 602 ; and after him Uslier's Prim., p. 667 ; Euddiman's Index
to the Diplom. Scotise, p. 113. In a charter of David I. this coimtry was called Galwegia.
Sir J. Dalrymple's Col., 171 ; in a charter of William the Lion it is called Gahveia. Dug.
Monast., V. iii., p. 38. John granted certain lands in Ireland to Allan de Gallwwj an" 1213.
The same king gave lands in Lreland to Thomas de Galwmj an" 1216. Pat. 14 Eeg. Joh. Pat.
17 Joh. This name may be merely Galliwatj or Gaelwai/, the bay of the Gael or Lish. We
may learn, indeed, from Wachter, that Galli signifies the Gael : " Galli veteribus Gallwalise,
"non Franci dicti." W. Malmsbury apud Saville's Script., 25. lVa{/e in the Teutonic signifies
aqua, mare. Wachter in vo. Wage was pronounced by the English Way, as Lear/ is Ley, and
Haeg is Hay, etc. Lye's Sax. Diet. The Anglo-Saxon Waeg signifies Jluctus, nnda, iter, via.
Somner. From these intimations we may discover, perhaps, the origin of the Solway. Sole, Sul,
Sal, signify sal fluidum. Wachter in vo. : and Wa[/e, Waye, Mare, as in the well-known river
Med-iray. A Gaelic etymologist would probably derive the etj-mon of Galloway from Gall-
bhagh, which the English would pronounbe Gallwa or Gallway, the estuary or bay of the stran-
gers or foreigners. The Annals of Ulster, under a.d. 1200, call the people of Galloway the
Irish Gals. The Saxon Chronicle constantly calls the Gael of France Galwalas. See Gibson's
Index, Nom. Loc. Explicatio, in voce. It seems more than probable that this difficult name was
originally imposed by the Lish settlers, and afterwards Saxonized, from the coincidence of the name.
The legends of the country, however, attribute the origin of the name to King Galdus, who
fought and fell en the bay of Wigton. In his description of Wigtonshire, Sir Andi-ew Agnew
360 AnACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
Luce would offer the migrants a commodious harbour ; and the principal set-
tlement of the new-comers would gradually communicate its significant name to
the contiguous country, as the Shire-town conveys its appellation to the shire.
In the effluxion of three centuries, the name of Galloway was applied loosely
to the whole peninsula, lying between the Solway and the Clyde, including
Annandale on the south, and Ayrshire on the north (I). In the long effluxion
of three busy centuries, the Irish settlers comj^letely occupied the ample extent
of Galloway, mingling everywhere with the enfeebled Britons, whose speech
they undei'stood, and amalgamating with the still fewer Saxons, whose language
they rejected as unintelligible and harsh. The names which the Scoto-Irish
imposed on places, and which still remain within that country, evince at once the
numbers of the colonists, and the extent of their settlements, more satisfactorily
than the uncertain notices of ill-informed annalists (b). The Irish topography of
Galloway corresponds more exactly with the topography of Ireland than with
that of proper Scotland. This shade of difference concurs with the intimations
which evince that Galloway was settled by a direct colonization, while proper
Scotland, on the northern side of the two friths, was settled by the Scoto-Irish
descendants of the first settlers of Kintire during the ninth century (c).
says that " beside tlie harbour of Wigton stands the ancient monument of King Galdus, from whence
'•the shire has its name called GaUaicidia." This is the fabulous Galdus, who is said by Boece and
Buchanan to have opposed the Eomans, though conducted by Agiicola. We may herein see a slight
trait of history by connecting the fictitious Galdus with the real Galgac who fought Agricola at the
foot of the Grampian.
(I) Sir J. Dahymple's Col., 171 ; Lord Hailes An., i., p. 106.
(6) See Blaeu's Atlas Scotise, Nos. 13 to 23. The Scoto-Irish names of places in those several
maps prove cleai-ly that the Scoto-Irish came in upon the south-west, and that their colonization
spread eastward and north-eastward over Galloway and Garrick into Dumfries-shire, into the upper
part of Lanark-shire, and into Kyle. The Irish names which are so very numerous in Galloway
proper and in Cai'rick, decline gradually in numbers as we proceed through Kyle and Nithsdale
into the upper part of Clydesdale, and even into Annandale and Eskdale, whgre there are now
but a small number of Irish names of places. In Kyle and in Clydesdale the Galloway-Irish, in
their progress of settlement northward, appear to have met the Argyllshire-Irish in their progress
southward.
(c) Take the following instances : Currach, a fen, a swampy ground, the same as the Currach of
Kildare and others in Ireland, appears in Galloway as Currnch-more, the great fen, etc. ; so the
Currach appears in Ayrshire and in Clydesdale, but not in proper Scotland. Aid, a rivulet, which is
so frequent in the topography of the Argyll-Irish, very seldom appears in Galloway, where the Pol and
the Lyne are the common tenns for rivulets. Bre or Bra, which signifies a hill or acclivity both
in the British and Irish, is very frequent in proper Scotland, while in Galloway it occurs but
seldom. On the other hand, Bar, signifying a top or height, which is so frequent in Galloway,
Ch. v.— Galloivay.'] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 301
It is indeed curious to remark how much the names of places within ancient
Galloway correspond with the history of every people who have ever re-
sided within its ample limits. In Dumfries, in Kirkcudbright, Wigton, and
in Ayr, the appellations of rivers and of rivulets are chiefly British, the lan-
guage of the original settlers (d). This fact evinces the first colonists to have
been British tribes, as we know, as well from history as from geography,
■were the Selgovse and Novantes. The names of the mountains, headlands,
and of other places, are not unfrequently British (e). This fact confirms the
former intimations, and supports the notices both of tradition and archaeo-
logy. The paucity of Anglo-Saxon names, exclusive of the pure English
appellations, in ancient Galloway, prove what has been already intimated, that
the Saxons never settled there in numerous bodies for any length of years ( /').
is much less common in proper Scotland. There are otlier topographic variances -which mark the
different settlements of those kindred people. In Galloway the Irish (gh) is frequently used for (ch),
which is the pure orthography : as augh for ach, and lough for loch ; and the lovf/h has been converted
into loiu by the English pronunciation in Ayrshire, Dumfries-shire, Kirkcudbright, and even in Et-
trick Forest.
(d) In Dumfries, the Annan, the Nith, the Esk, the Eiris, the Evan, the Ae, the Eden; in
Kh'kcudbright, the Dee, the Cree, the Ur, the Caryen, the Pilnour, and the Minich ; in Wigton,
the Ket, the Malzie, the Messen ; in A3Tshire : the Irvine, the Ayr, the Stinchar, the Gelt, the
Gourock, the Garnock, the Greg, the Glasdur ; all have their significant names from the Cambro-
British speech.
(e) In Dumfries, there are the British Caihur-'kWl, Pen-agual hills, Pen-hill, Pen-law, Pen-pont,
Caer-laverock, Keir, Aber-tock ; in Kirkcudbright: the many Carses, or Corse, Troqueer ; in Wigton
there are the British Ochiltree, or Uchil-tre, and the Cornish Heugh, and the Rhins of Galloway; in
Ayr there are ^e7«a-rock, the Troon, or Trnyn-^oirA, Dreghorn, and Cumnock. There are, indeed, in
proper Galloway, many other British words, the language of the Selgovae and Novantes, which has
been transmitted through every change of people to the present times : such as the Pol or Poiv, the
British Pwl, or Irish Pol, a water, or stream ; the British Cnol, a hillock, Kelly, and Kell-ion, the
British Cell, and CelH. Frith, and Erie, a forest, Ceryn, a ridge, Collin, hazlewood, Rmj-glan, the
broad bank, Lawn, or Lan, a church. Pebble, and Pebhle-hi]l, temporary habitation, Terreagles,
Troquire, Ross, and other names with various compounds. The hill-forts, the hiding-places, the
Druid remains, the ancient sepulchres, the canoes, the Celts, are all striking monuments of the British
people.
(/) In Dumfries : along the Solway we may frequently find the old Saxon words. Holm, Cleugh,
Hope, By, Shaw, Shiel, Rig, Thwait, or Thet. On the Locher-water, which was formerly covered
with wood, may be traced the Saxon Walt, or Wealt, a forest, in Monse-u-ald, Bath-irald, Tm-tvald,
ToiihoT-wald ; in Kirkcudbright ; there are very few names of places from the old Saxon, yet the
Holm, the Cleugh, the Law, the Shaw, the Shiel, the Ham, the Burg, may be traced ; in Wigton
there are not above half a dozen old Saxon names, the Ham, the By, Wealt, in Les-ivalt, may indeed
be traced ; in Carrick, there are only a few Saxon names mixed with the great body of Scoto-Irish
appellations ; in Kyle, the Saxon names are somewhat more numerous, but even there the number of
Vol. I. 3 A
362 A X A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
lu tliat country there is only a sufficient number of Danish names of
places to confirm the i^epresentations of history, which speak either of the
irruption of the Danes into ancient Galloway from Northumberland, or of
their incursions along its coasts during the ninth and tenth centuries (g). In
that country the Scoto-Irish names of places predominate, though they have
been much diminished by recent innovators (h).
In the before-mentioned mode was Galloway filled throughout its extensive
range with a new and cognate race of people from Ireland. They did not
the L-isli names is equal to both the Scoto-Saxon and the English names ; and there are several pleo-
nastic compounds of both those languages, indicating how much the two races of people mingled with
each other. In Cunningham, the proportion of Saxon names is somewhat greater than in Kyle, and
much greater than in Carrick ; in Cunningham, the Holm, Skaiv, By, Cleutjli, Ham, Wic, Threap, are
frequently seen in the names of places. Those facts throw great light on the comparative numbers
and influence of the several colonies of the Saxons and the Irish, who poured into those countries upon
the original British people.
((/) In Kirkcudbright, the river Fleet may be the Anglo-Saxon Flevt of Somner ; in Kirkcud-
bright, in Wigton, and in Dumfries, the Fell, Fiat, mons, of the Icelandic Dictionaries, but not
of Somner. is applied to several hills. But the Scandinavian Fell is only to be found in the country
along the Solway ; it does not appear in Argyleshire, in Strathclyde, nor in the Lothians.
There do not seem to be any other Scandinavian words which can be discriminated from the
Anglo-Saxon.
(/() In the Southern tract along the Solway, in Dumfries-shire, there is but a small mixture of
Scoto-Irish names of places ; in the upper part of Eskdale and Annandale they appear more numerous,
and the Anglo-Saxon fewer ; and in the whole of Nithsdale, northward of Dumfries, the greatest
number of the names of places is Scoto-Irish. It is a curious but obscure fact, that in the twelfth
century Annandale was still called Strath-annan, and Nithsdale Stra-nith. See David's charter to
Eobert Bi-uce in the British Museum. In Kirkcudbright, the great body of the names of places is
Scoto-Irish, even up to the bank of the Solway. On the west of the Nith the Scoto-Irish names abound
much more than on the east of the Nith, where the Saxon names greatly prevail. In Wigton the
Scoto-Irish names predominate greatly over the Enghsh, notwithstanding the modern innovations of
surveyors. In Carrick, on Font's Maps in Blaeu's Atlas Scotise, which are chiefly used, the names of
places are almost wholly from the Scoto-Irish. In Kyle, according to Blaeu's Map, the names of
places appear to be of two classes — 1st, the Scoto-Ii'ish, and 2nd, the Scoto-Saxon and English ; and
those two classes are nearly in equal proportions vrith pleonastic denominations, which are composed
of both those tongues. In Cunningham, on Blaeu's Map, the names of places appear, as they do in
Kyle, to be of two classes — 1st, the Scoto-Irish, and 2nd, the Scoto-Saxon and English ; but in Cun-
ningham the latter are more numerous, and the former somewhat less frequent than in Kyle. The
Map of Ayr by Armstrong has made a great change in the names of places. Several of the old names,
both in the Scoto-Irish and in the Scoto-Saxon, do not appear, aad several English appellations are
introduced. This observation applies to the modem maps of all those shires. The foregoing facts de-
monstrate that the assertions of those who say that " the whole names in Cunningham and Kyle are
Gothic," are visionary.
Ch. Y.—Gallovaij.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 363
enjoy, however, tranquility in the settlements which they had thus formed
during three centuries of perturbation. The naval enterprises of the north-
men who had settled on the coast of Ireland during those ages, the incursions
of the Danes from Northumberland, the distractions of separate tribes, all
inflicted on them the inveterate wounds of savage war (i) ; yet the Scoto-
Irish retained their settlements as a distinct people, preserved the independence
of their local system, and maintained their customs and defended their laws
during the various changes of many ages {k). We see little, however, in those
ages of rulers or lords of Galloway acting on the obscure theatre of their
settlements in the progress of their afflictions, or in the gaiety of their felicities.
If we may believe the English chroniclers, Jacobus, the ruler of Galloway, was
one of the eight reguli who met Edgar at Chester in 973 a.d. [1). As early, if
not earlier, than the age of David I., the boundaries of Galloway were confined
within the narrow limits which have been assigned to that Celtic region in
modern times (m).
The Galloway Irish appear to have been too intent on extending their coloniza-
tion to attend much to the adventures of war, or even to the intrigues of policy.
(;') Annals of Ulster ; Sax. Chron., p. 83.
(Ic) By the statute of Alexander II., cb. ii., 1214, Galloway "has lier own special and proper laws."
Skene's Auld Laws, p. 14. Even Robert Bnice confirmed tbe ancient laws of Galloway, which Edward
I. had attempted to abolish. Eobertson's Index to the Records, p. lii. Galloway had her proper
judges, who were always called in to decide when the persons or property of Galloway-men were to be
affected. Bern MS. of the Leges Scotice.
(l) Florence Wigorn, 359 ; Matthew of Westm., 375.
(m) David I. granted tithes to the chui-ch of Glasgow within Strathgryfe (Renfrewshire), Cunning-
ham, Kyle, and Carrick ; but Galloway is not mentioned. Fergus of Galloway was a witness to this
grant, which must have been made before the year 1142. Chart. Glasg. We thus see all those coun-
tries distinctly mentioned, and their rights clearly marked. In another grant of David I., in which
Fergus of Galloway is also a witness, and which must equally have been made before 1142, the eighth
penny arising from his pleas throughout Cumbria was given to the church of Glasgow. Id. His
grandson William addressed a charter to his Sheriffs and Bailiffs of Galluway, Carrick, and Levenachs.
In 1178 Pope Alexander III. confirmed by his bull to Joceline, the bishop of Glasgow, the churches
and other rights of the bishopric of Glasgow, in Tbevidale, Twedale, Cludesdale, Eskdale, Ewisdale,
Lidelesdale, Drives-dale, Annandes-dale, Levenachs, Stratgrif, Meorns, Larges, Ouningham, Kyle,
Carrick, Clenkarn, Strathnyth, and all the rights which the bishop had in Galloway. Chart.
Glasg. In 1181 Pope Lucius granted a bull to Joceline in the same terms. Id. In 1186
Pope Urban confirmed to Joceline the same rights in similar terms. Id. From those several
charters it is apparent that the notions entertained by Sir James Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, and
more recent writers, that Galloway comprehended all those countries as low down as the reign
of Robert Bruce, are unfounded. It is, however, certain that the judges of Galloway sometimes
sat in judgment at Dumfries and at Lanark during the reign of William the Lion. Bern MS. of the
Leges Scotice.
3 A 2
364 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III— T^e Scottish Period.
Of course, their history is barren of events. The Irish colonists of Galloway,
like the Irish colonists of Argyll, brought with them from their parent country
the Brehon law, and the law of Tanistry (h). They pi-actised their own customs,
and they long claimed and enjoyed their own p7-oper laws (o). Under the
Celtic polity, in every age and in every country the Celtic tribes of the same
nation were but slightly connected. Of this disconnection we have seen fatal
examples in Gaul and in Bi-itain. The authority of the nation conjointly
possessed and exerted but very slight authority over the tribes separately ; for
a body politic or national society was scarcely known, and the separate tribes
were each supposed to enjoy rights and privileges which the nation, far less the
king, could not abrogate or lessen. In such societies, and among a Gaehc
jjBople, the feudal law could not exist, because its fundamental maxims could
not prevail against usages which had a quite difierent policy for their end.
From those intimations we may infer that the connection between Galloway
and Scotland, and tlie Galloway men and the Scottish kings, was but very
slight; yet, however loose the tie may have been, we may certainly conclude
that it was not of a feudal natin-e. Like the British tribes of old within
South and North Britain, the Galloway men were of the same race with the
other Scottish tribes, they spoke the same Gaelic tongue, they professed the
same religion, they practised the same customs, and, above all, they obeyed the
same king, as Gaelic kings were in those times obeyed by a Gaelic people. It
is possible, indeed, that when Kenneth III. had subdued Strathclyde, he may
have obtained additional power over those congenerous people in Galloway.
Such, then, was the connection of Galloway with Scotland, and the obedience
of the Galloway men to the Scottish kings throughout the Scottish period.
Yet was it the opinion of the late Loixl Hailes, who ought always to be
mentioned with just deference, " that Galloway, in its largest extent, acknow-
" ledged only a, feudal dependence on Scotland" (oo). This notion, by more
recent mquiry, is adopted as a %vell-hiown truth, and is enlarged by uncritical
examination into an assertion " that the Gallowidian Lords were only feudatoi-y
" to the Scottish kings." It is not logical in any lawyer to speak of yewc^a^
rights among a people who did not know the meaning of fended terms, and
resisted violently /e«o?a^ inferences. The opinion of Lord Hailes is plainly con-
(«) See b. ii., ch. iii., § 3. In support of those laws tliey frequentlj' broke out into insunection
during the reigns of Malcolm IV., William the Lion, and of Alexander II.
(o) See the statutes of Alexander II., ch. ii., and the statutes of Eobert I., ch. xxsvi, in Skene's
Auld Laws.
(oo) Annals, v. i., p. 106.
Ch. \.— Galloway.] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 365
tradicted by records which he might have seen, and is strongly overruled by
facts that he must liave recognised. While Henry I. reigned in England, and
Alexander I. beyond the Friths, Earl David exercised the essential rio-hts of
sovereignty over Strath clyde and Galloway, as his father had equally enjoyed
the same authority (p). Malcolm IV., his successor, exerted his rights over
Galloway by the sword ; and William the Lion, who succeeded him, possessed
in Galloway, castles and revenues, bailiifs, and perhaps sheriffs, which en-
forced formerly, and denote now, his sovereign power {q). The captivity
of William the Lion was the signal for the Galloway men to expel his
officers with impunity. The regaining of his liberty was the re-establishment
of his power over Galloway (r). It was at the Battle of the Standard, in 1138,
that we first observe the leaders of the Gallowidians, Ulgric and Dovenald,
who both fell in that disastrous field (s). The Lord of Galloway who next
(p ) Earl David granted to the monastery wliioh lie founded at Selkirk the tenth of his Can from
Galloway. Chart. Kelso, No. 4 ; Sir J. Dalrymple's Col., 404. In consequence of this grant the
monks received the tenth of the Can of cheese, of animals, and of swine, from Galloway, which was
confh-med to them by David I., upon their translation to Kelso. Chart. Kelso, No. 1. This was also
confirmed by Malcolm IV. and by King William. lb.. No. 2, 3 ; Diplom. Scotiae, pi. 34. The
Chartulary of Glasgow contains several grants of tithes to that episcopate by David, within Cumbria
and Strathclyde. Both David I. and Malcolm, his successor, enforced the payment of tithes to the
bishop of Glasgow, within the utmost limits of Galloway. William confirmed the charters of his brother
and grandfather on this subject by a grant which he addressed to his Sheriffs and Bailiffs of Galloivay,
and which directs the payment of tithes to the bishop, "sicut servientes mei, Cana, et rectitudines
meas ad opus meum recipiunt." Chart. Glasg., 213.
{q) See his grants in the Chartulary of Glasgow, which have been already quoted.
(r) Eoland, the Lord of Galloway, with the judges of that country, assembled a jury, and held
a court at the Shiretown of Lanark soon after the return of William from his captivity, and by an
inquest found that the Scottish king had a right to the Gaelic payment of Can in Galloway. This
curious adjudication, which is in the Bern MS. Col. of the Leges Scotice, must have happened
between the year 1186, the epoch of the pacification of Galloway, and 119G, when Eoland became
constable. In the same Bern MS. there is an adjudication of the judges of Galloway, sitting at
Dumfries : 1st, If any one should be convicted in Galloway, " per duellum sive alio modo," of a breach
of the king's peace, shall forfeit twelve score cows and three bulls ; 2dly, If any persons fight in the
palace, except those who have the custody thereof, shall forfeit to the king x. cows. It appears
this sitting at Dumfries happened soon after the peace of Galloway in 1186, under the reign of
William. After this fuU exposition, I cannot concur with Lord Hailes that Galloway in those days
"only acknowledged a feudary dependence on Scotland." Annals, v. i., p. 106. But his Lordship
neither adverted to those charters nor knew anything of those adjudications on the very point of the
king's sovereignty.
(.s) Dal. An., v. i., p. 79, which quotes the contemporary writers, Aildred, 345, and J. Hagustald,
262.
366 AnACCOUNT Book III.— The Scottish Periud.
appeared upon the stage of savage life was Fergus, the father of a long line of
distinguished families ; but having contemned the youth of Malcolm IV., he
was obliged to follow the ignoble example of Dunvallon, by assuming the cowl
in the monastery of Holyrood (t). In such darksome inquiries, retrospect and
analogy must decide when the imitations of law and the recitals of history are
silent.
{t) In the Chartulary of Glasgow, as we have seen, Fergus was a witness to several charters of David
I. ; but of his parentage there is not anywhere a single notice. He died in the monastery of Holp'ood
during the year 1161. Anglia Sacra, v. i., p. 162. He was born of course, as he was now old,
during the reign of Edgar, at the end of the eleventh century ; and he was consequently advanced to
the manful age of forty at the Battle of the Standard in 1 1 38, after which he probably became Lord
of GaUoway, either according to the custom of the country, or by the appointment of the Scottish
king. The property and chieftainry of Fergus descended to his son by Elizabeth, the youngest natural
daughter of Henry I. Yorke's Union of Honour, p. 9 ; Sandford"s Genealog. Histoiy, p. 33. When
the ambition of Henry H. induced him to interfere in the affairs of Galloway, under the reign of
William, he recognized the two sons of Fergus, by that marriage, as his relations. Hoveden, 539. In
1234, we shall see, the Gallowidians apply to Alexander 11. to appoint them a Lord, upon the death
of Alan, whose rights descended to his three daughters. In after times, when the ancient usage and
Gaelic people had greatly declined, the Scottish kings appointed the chiefs of Galloway. The Scot-
tish kings seem not, however, to have been possessed, during the reign of Edgar, of Alexander I., or
of David I., within Galloway and Strathclyde, of any lands in demesne ; and having no such lands
they equally appear to have had no thanages, which abounded so much on the east coast.
Ch. VI.— Lothian.] OfNOBTH-BRITAIN. 367
CHAP VI.
Of Lothian dwing this Period.
THE genuine Plots who possessed the country on the north of the friths,
never enjoyed any part of the Roman province of Valentia. As a people they
had no right to possess any portion of the territories, which were occupied
either by the Romanized Britons in the west of that province, or by the North-
umbrian Saxons, who came in, as we have seen, on the east of it. After
many conflicts with those Saxons, the Picts remained without the possession of
any part of Lothian, at the epoch of their union with the Scots, in a.d. 843 (a).
This fine district derived its singular appellation from the Saxon policy of a
Saxon people ; and long before the age of Malmsbury, it was known by the
vernacular name of Loudian {h).
(a) Bede Hist., lib. iii., c. 3-6 ; lib. iv., c. 26, and App. No. 20 in Ed. Smith, evince that the
Northumbrian state extended to the Forth, and that Bernicia was terminated by the Scottish sea when
Bede closed his narrative. Simeon of Durham enumerates the very lands and towns which belonged
to the bishopric of Lindisfarne in 854 along the shore of the Frith, comprehending Abercorn on the
west, Edwinesharg, Pefferham, Aldham, Tyningham, Coldingham. Decern. Scrip. Col., 69-139 ; Hove-
den, 418 ; Usher's Religion of the Irish, p. 115. The Scottish writers are continually speaking of
the rights which the Picts had to the countries on the south of the Friths, without being able to make
out any title. Robertson's Hist. Scot., v. i., p. 3 ; Innes's Crit. Essay ; and, above all, the Enquiry,
1789, v. ii., p. 205-217, wherein the whole subject of Lothian is misconceived and mis-stated.
The occupants alone had the natural and just right to the territories which they held after the
Eoman abdication. The Romanized Britons enjoyed their possessions from ancient inheritance ; the
Saxons of Lothian enjoyed what they held from conquest and occupancy ; and those several rights
are altogether valid against the unfounded claims which are idly made for the Plots. The important
fact that Lothian was afterwards transferred by a Northumbrian earl to a Scottish king, proves
by retrospect that the Picts and Scots had neither possession nor title before the epoch of this
transfer in 1020 a.d., if we except, indeed, the fictitious donation of Egbert to Kenneth HI., as we
are told by William of Malmsbury, p. 376 of ed. 1570, and by Wallingford, p. 543-45. On this ide;il
transfer of Lothian our publishers of poetry are loquacious, while Turner, the Saxon historian,
is silent. The fact is that Egbert died in 836 a.d., seven years before Kenneth acquired the sceptre
of the Scots and Picts. Such is the fallacy of Wallingford.
(4) Malmsbury, as above, speaking of the before-mentioned gift of Egbert to Kenneth, the historian
says : "Dedit pretsroa eidem regi totam terram quae Laudian patria lingua nuncupatui'. '
368 AnAOOOUNT [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
Soon after the union of the Picts and Scots, Kenneth made incursions into
Saxonia, as Lothian was called by the chronicler, and burnt Dunbar, and wasted
Melrose (c). But whatever he may have destroyed, he certainly retained not
any part of the territory which he had over-run. It was an age of predatory
expeditions, when the great object of adventurers was plunder rather than
possession. In the absurd fictions of Scottish history, Gregoi-y subdued Lothian,
conquered England, and annexed Ireland to the kingdom which he had
usurped. If we may believe the English chroniclers, Edward the Elder, in
A.D. 924, obliged Constantin III., the Scottish king, to give him marks of
submission {d). In 934, ^thelstan, a still more powerful prince than his
father Edward, over-ran Lothian and spoiled Edwinesburgh, while he con-
sidered both as Northumbrian territories, and he is said to have obliged Con-
stantin to renew his submission in resentment for the asylum which Godfrid,
the Danish prince had received in Scotland {e). Constantin, in retaliation,
joined the Danes in an inroad into England ; but they were worsted by vEthel-
stan in the great battle of Brunanburgh, near the Humber, and Constantin
returned to his country with the loss of his son, and with few of his army, in
938 A.D. (y). Such important facts prove more satisfactorily than the in-
accurate deductions of ill-informed annalists, that the Scottish kings were not
during that age in a condition to seize, far less to retain, such a district as
Lothian, which was separated from their country by the Frith of Forth ; they
were opposed by a succession of English princes, who were distinguished by
their personal vigour and for their national power. With the annihilation of
(c) Cliron. No. 3 in Innes, p. 783 ; Higden's Polychronicon.
(d) Sax. Cliron. , p. 110; Hoveden, p. 421.
(e) Sax. Ohron., p. Ill ; Flor. Wig., 349 ; O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 485.
(/) Sax. Ohron., 113 ; Anglia Sacra, v. i., p. 212. On the decisive victory of ^thelstan, an ode
nras composed by a contemporary poet in the Anglo-Saxon language, which is still preserved in the
British Museum, and has been often published. Take a few specimens from Michaeler's " Monimenta
veteris linguae Teutonicae, 228-34 :
Scotta leode ... Scottish lads
And scipflotan ... And shipmen
Feoge feollon. - - - In fight fell.
Flotan and Scotta - - The fleet and Scottish men
Thaer geflymed wearth. - - There to flee were forced.
Swilce thaer eac se froda - - So there eke the pradent
Mid fleame com on his clyththe - With flight came to his country
Nordh Constantinus. - - The northei'n Oonstantin,
Ch. Yl.— Lothian.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 369
the Northumbrian kings in 954, Edwinesburgh, the opidum Eden of the chro-
nicle, was evacuated by Osulf, the first of the Northumbrian Earls, during the
reign of the Scottish Indulf {^).
Yet Indulf was too much occupied with the incursions of the Danes to seize
Edwinesburgh or to conquer Lothian. Such an acquisition was reserved for a
more fortunate prince in a happier age. Malcolm II. obtained Lothian by
concession from a timid earl of Northumberland. It was during the reign of
Canute a.d. 1020, that Eadulf-Cudel, dreading the vengeance of the Scots,
made over to the Scottish king the whole territory of Lothian in just considera-
tion of lasting amity (h). In this manner does archseology concur with history
in establishing the previous probability with regard to this curious portion of
Scottish topography. It is impossible, indeed, to satisfy the scruples of scepti-
cism, but fair inquiry will yield full assent to the best evidence which the
nature of the transaction allows.
Yet does incredulity withhold her assent tiU we discuss what country was
intended by the term Lothene, though Simeon shows, by his reflection upon
the fact, that he meant Lothian which adjoined to Scotland ; but of such
discussions there would be no easy solution, if they were more agreeable
in their nature, and more satisfactory in their end {?').
{g) Cliron. No. 3 in Innes, p. 787 ; and see Innes, 604.
{h) Simeon of Durham, Ap. Twisden Col., 81 ; " Hoc modo Lodoneium adjectum est regne Seot-
"torum," says the historian, who was in a situation to know the fact, and who states emphatically
what he knew to be true ; and see Dugdale's Baron., v. i., p. 4, to the same fact, " by which means,
says this antiquary, that territory came at first to be a member of Scotland." The recent authority
of Wallingford. (Gale, v. iii., p. 545), ought not to be placed against the satisfactoiy information of
Simeon, if the fact could admit the fiction of Wallingford.
{i) Bede, who does not notice Lothian on the Tweed, mentions regio Loidis, Hist. lib. ii., c. 14.
The reyio Loidis, which furnished subsequent chroniclers with a name for a different country, was
undoubtedly the district of Leeds. The Saxon Chronicle says that Malcolm, in 1091, departed out
of Scotland into Lothene, in England ; in Provineia Lnidi.t, says Florence ; in provincia Lotidiensi,
says Brompton. Malcolm came out of Scotland, that was bounded on the south by the Forth, into
Lothene, which then lay in England, on the north of the Tweed, as the writer of the chronicle sup-
posed, as the English kings frequently insisted, and the English chroniclers generally contended ; but
their pretensions do not alter either the fact or the right! The Saxon Chronicle talks, in 1125, of
J. Bishop of Lothene. There is a wiit addressed by David Comes Johanni episcopo. Smith's Bede,
App. No. 20. This John had been tutor to Earl David, and was bishop elect of Glasgow ; he is
mentioned in 1127 as bishop of Glasgow, by Eobert, bishop of St. Andrews. lb., p. 767; and he
ia mentioned as bishop of Glasgow, by Earl David, in the charter of Selkirk. Sir J. Dalrymple's
Col., 404. This, then, is the jierson who was meant by the Saxon Chronicle ; but there never
was a bishop of Lothene in any nation, during any age. There was, indeed, Thor, archdeacon of
Vol. I. 3 B
370 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book 111.— The Scottish Period.
The names of places which still appear in the maps of the territory extend-
ing along the Forth from the Tweed, remarkably correspond with the history
of the successive settlers, and distinctly evince that the western boundary of
the settlement of the Saxons did not extend beyond the Avon. In Berwick, in
Haddington, in Edinburgh, and Linlithgow, British names of the principal rivers
and most remarkable hills point to the distant age when those countries were
settled by British tribes (h). The next race of colonists in all those shires
were the Saxons, who have left notices of theu' several settlements in the names
of places which may still be traced on the majjs, and will appear to decrease
in numbers as we proceed through Berwick, Haddington, Edinburgh, and Lin-
lithgow, from the Tweed to the Avon (/).
In Berwick-shire the Scoto-Irish even imposed their names on some places
after the cession of that country to Malcolm II. in 1020 A.D. (g). The Scoto-
Irish imposed a still greater number of their names after that epoch, in Hadd-
Lotluan, who was a witness to Malcolm IV. charter to the monks in Kelso in 1159. Dalrymp.
Camden, 202. But if there had been a dozen Lothians in so many different countries, the curious
information which is mentioned by Simeon would remain unimpeached, because he knew the
country whereof he wrote, and states distinctly what he knew. Skene, in explaining the word
Scotia, says, " it sometimes signifies that part of Scotland which is on the north part of the water
" of Forth, and is opposed to Lodoiieiiim, which we now call Loudiane ; for David I., in the third
" year of his reign, by his charter, made omnibus Scottis, et Anglis, tarn in Scotia, quam in
Locloneio constitutis," gave, &c., the lands of Coldingham, (fcc, lying in Lodoneio, " quhilk now
lyis in the Mers." De Verb, significatione. In A.D. 1125, says Simeon, John of Crema came to
David, the king of Scots, " apud fluvium Twedam, qui Northumbriam et Loidam disterminat, in loco
qui Rochesburh nominatur." This passage proves how well that intelligent historian knew the boun-
daries of Lothian.
(Jc) In Berwick, the Tweed, the Adur, the Dye, the Eden, the Leader, the Eye, are all rivers deriv-
ing their remarkable appellations from the British settlers ; in Haddington, there are the British rivers
Tyne and Peffer, and the British names of Aberlady, Tranent, PfH.caithland, Pf»craig ; in Edinburgh-
shire, the rivers Forth, Esk, Leith, Breich, and Gore, Po^-leith, all denote the British colonists on
their banks, who may be still traced in the names of Oramond, Cockpen, Dreghorn, Dalkeith, Keirhill,
Pendruich, Pennycuik, Eoslln ; in Linlithgow, the rivers Almond and Avon have their names from the
British, together with Abercorn, Bangour, CaiTeden, Ochiltree, and the Pee!s of Linhthgow and Living-
ston, which all owe their names to the British.
(^) Of the names of places in those countries, from the old Saxon words Cleugh, Law, Shaw, Hope,
Shiel, Lee, Eig, Dod, Ham, Chester, Dean, Burg, Wic, By, and Threap, there is a smaller proportion
in Haddington than in Berwick, a still smaller proportion in Edinburghshire, and in Linlithgowshire
they decrease still more, and shew by their paucity that the Saxons never formed populous settlements
within its bounds.
(gr) The most obvious Scoto-Irish names are — AchLncraw, Bunkle, or Bon-kill, Dunse, Eecles,
Glengelt, Kill-inch, Knock, Old-Camus, Press, Eait, Blanern, Lough-loch, Lorgy-lough, Eoss-
point.
Ch.. Yl.—Lut/nan.'] Or NORTH-BRITAIN. 37I
ington ; the old Saxon appellations in this shire only out-number the Scoto-
Irish by a very small proportion (h). As we proceed westward, from Hadding-
ton to Edinburgh, the Scoto-Irish names increase in proportion, intimating
the paucity of the Saxon settlers, and the progress of the Gaelic people from
the west to the east (0). These observations apply still more strongly to Lin-
lithgow, which contains a still greater number of Scoto-Irish names than
Edinburghshire. They will appear to a discriminating eye to be nearly equal
to the English names which, in all those shires, owing to recent settlement
and modern map-makers, are the largest number. In the west and south-
west parts of Linlithgowshire, which border on Lanark and Stirling, the
proportion of Scoto-Irish names is nearly as great as it is along the east coast
on the north of the Forth, where the Scoto-Irish people predominated from
A.D. 843 to 1097 (p). The prevalence of the Scoto-Irish names of places in
the west and south-west of Linlithgowshire, proves satisfactorily that the
Saxons, during the Scottish period, never made many permanent settlements
on the western side of the river Avon ; and the foregoing facts also prove
that a late historian was not very fortunate in his topographical opinion, when
he remarked, with more confidence than knowledge, " that Lothian was
" entirely peopled by Saxons, who afterwards received a great mixture of Danes
*' among them (q)."
(h) The most prominent Scoto-Ii-isli names are the Bass, Bal-gone, Baln-crief, Craigendinnas, Dun-
glass, Dunbar, Doivn-hill, Bunci-a-hiU, Dalgowrie, Z)rem-liills, Fassney-water, Garvald, Tnver-wick,
Kil-spindie, Kil-duff, Pressminnan, Spot-water, Stoop-liom-jv're, Tor-buck-lin-till, Phantassie, Gul-en,
Lin-plume, Nuckle-Z)uns, Tam-tallan, Wampliray.
(0) Of the Scoto-Irish names of places, the following are the most remarkable : Achincorth,
Achenlecks -walls, Achenhound-hill, Achtigamel, Allermore-hill, Achendinny, Badds, Balgreen,
Badleith, Balemoe, Braid, Catcuin, Corstorphin, Calder, Crossannit, Carnethe-hill, Craigentarrie,
Currie, Dalr}^ Drumsheugh, Dalmahoy, Drum, Drumaben, Drumdryan, Drumbraiden, Fordell,
Garvalt, Glencross, Inveresk, Inch, Inchkeith, Inverleith, Killin-water, Kil-leith, Karnes, Lum-
phoy, Malouther-hill, Moredun, Phantassie, Ratho, Torphichen-hill, Torquehan, Torsonce,
Tipperlin, Torphin, Torbreck, Torucaving-hill, Craigmillar, Craig, Dalhousie, Kipps, Linfast, Linhouse-
water.
(p) The most obvious are, Achin-head, Bambougle, Buchans, Binns. Bonhard, Barbaueh-law.
Bedlormie, Bagomie, Breich, Binny, Bormy, Balncrief, Balbardie, Balgreen, Craigie, Carlowrie,
Curruber, Cairnie, Craigmarie, Graigs, Crai'j-hWh, Cult, Carjipaple-hill, Dalmonie, Dundas, Drum,
Drumbeg, Duntarvie, Drumtassie, Drumlyon, Drummelzie, Drumduff, Drumbonie, Drumshags, Drum-
forth, Drumcross, Dechmont, Eckline, Ecolesmachan, Flass, Glendevon, Inch-Garvie-Island, Inver-
avon, Inch (several). Inch-corse, Kenneil, Kinglas, Killicanty, Kilpunt, Kincavil, Knock, Linlithgow,
Logie-water, Minniefree, Niddrie, Ogilface, Powflat, Polkemmet, Strath, Tannach, Torphichen,
Torbane-hill, Tartraven, Lin-burn.
(?) Hume's Hist., vol. ii., p, 503. In the Maps of Berwick, Haddington, Edinburgh, and Linlith-
3B2
372 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
But this topographical inquiiy furnishes strong confirmations of the fore-
going intimations, with regard to the successive settlements of vai'ious people
in Lothian, which extended from the Tweed to the Avon, and from the Forth
to the heights that send their kindred streams to the eastward. Ancient Lo-
thian lay from the Tweed on the south-east, to the Forth and the Avou
on the north and north-west. On the east it was bounded by the ocean, and
on the west it marched with the Cumbrian kingdom. Thus Lothian compre-
hended not only the Lothians of the present day, but also the Merse, and that
part of Roxburghshire which lies on the north of the Tweed. Before the
acquisition of Lothian by Malcolm, it was included in the bishopric of Dur-
ham ; after this epoch it was annexed to the bishopric of St. Andrews,
in which it appears in the earliest records (;•). Yet the whole extent of
Lothian to the Forth was claimed, even in 1075, as a part of the bishopric of
Durham (s). The limits of the country between the Forth and Tweed, which
belonged to the bishopric of St. Andrews, are distinctly fixed by the ancient
taxatio of the churches in the thirteenth century (t). It was co-extensive with
ancient Lothian, as it is described above ; and the bishopric of Glasgow, which
had conterminous Ihnits with the bishopric of St. Andrews, was co-extensive
with the Cambrian kingdom of the Romanized Britons.
After some fluctuations of alternate possession, Lothian became a territory
of Scotland by the transfer of Eadulf to Malcolm, as we have seen, in 1020
A.D. During forty years it continued in this state, owing to the distractions of
the English more than to the vigour of the Scottish government. Malcolm
Ceanmore had the fortune or the address to retain this disputed district, in
opposition to two such able princes as William the Conqueror and William
Rufus. Lothian remamed unalterably annexed to the Scottish crown, notwith-
standing the imbecility of rulers and the changes of times, till the junction of
gow ttere is not to be found the Danish word Fell, whicli is applied to some of the mountains in
Galloway ; neither do they appear in those maps any genuine Scandinavian words that are intermixed
with the proper Saxon. Thus are facts opposed to assertions !
(r) Smith's Bede, App. xx. ; Chart. Glasgow, fol. 8.
(i) It is stated as extending from the Humber '• ad ultimas Scotiae fines." Hist. Episc. Dunelm.
Anglia Sacra, v. i., p. 703. But the ambiguity of this expression must be restricted to the southern
boundaries of Scotia.
(t) Chart, of Arbroath.
Ch.Yl.— Lot/nan.'] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 373
the crowns and the union of the nations fixed its political relations for
ever (v).
(v) Wlietlaer Malcolm IV. resigned either the possession or the sovereujntij of Lothian to Henry II. is a
question which has supplied matter of inquiry and a subject for dispute. The charters of Malcokn
which still remain show with strong conviction that he uniformly exercised over Lothian every species
of sovereign power in exclusion of every other potentate. See a list of his charters among the archives
of Durham in Nicholson's Scots Hist. Lib., p. 3G4 ; Anderson's Dipl., pi. 24 ; and see the Chartiilaries
of Kelso and Newbottle. The fact, then, overrules the assertions of the English chroniclers upon the
point, for Malcolm could not both resign and retain Lothian at the same moment. Neither does there
appear to me, after every research, to have ever been but one Lothian, which always lay on the north
of the Tweed. When the compiler of the Saxon Chronicle spoke of Lothene in England, he meant
the same district, and he supposed that England extended to the Forth, as his context evinces. The
copyists of the Chronicle, who changed the form of his expression, are unwoi-thy of regard. It is per-
fectly clear from an attention to every notice that there never was but one Lothian, and that this one
Lothian always lay where Lothian lies now, along the Forth from the Tweed to the Avon, notwith-
standing what is mistakingly said in the Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 205 to 217. David I. addressed his
charter, which was witnessed by Herbert the chancellor, " De fugitivis qui vocantur Cumberlach,'' to
all his faithful subjects, "tocius Scotie et Laudonie." Fragments of Scot. History, Ap. No. ii.
374 AnACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scoiti:ih Period.
CHAP. VII.
Of the Civil History of the Scots and Picts, from 843 to 1097 A.D.
FROM investigations with regard to the Union of the Picts and Scots, to
the extent of their dominions, to the topography of the various territories
which, in successive years, were finall}'' conjoined with the original countries of
those united people, we are naturally led to a chronological adjustment of the
accessions of their kings, the length of their lives, the demise of each, and
the events of their reigns. Without an adjustment of the chronology of the
several kings, the History of the Scottish Period of the North-British Annals is
written in vain. Embarrassed as this chronological series has been by igno-
rance and inattention, by scepticism and system, it is of gi'eat importance to
truth, that a chronological Table should be settled from a deliberate considera-
tion of the four Chronicles in Innes's Critical Essay ; from an attention to the
Chronicon Elegiacum (a) ; and still more from a regard to the Vera Series of
the same Critical Essayist which remains unpublished {b) ; and from a con-
sideration of the latest investigation of this interesting subject (c). The com-
mencement of this genuine chronology is 843, a memorable epoch in the Scottish
history. The length of the Scottish period is 254 years, and this duration brings
the several reigns of the kings to the demise of Donal-bane in 1097 a.d.,
and these coincidences, with the confronting authorities in the Table, conduct
the inquisitive mind to such certainties as cannot be hereafter shaken by system
or enfeebled by scepticism (d). History may now proceed to adopt as her own
what demonstration has settled, from the various sources of accurate investiga-
tion, and from a wide view of an entangled field of satisfactory discussion.
(a) In the Chronicle of Melrose.
(6) I have had the benefit of the whole MS. Collections and Notes of the laborious Innes during
fifty years, which are deposited in my library.
(c) An Enquiry into the History of Scotland preceding 1056, published 1789.
(d) See the Chronological Table in the following page.
Ch. VII.— 27, e Scots and Picts.'] Op NOETH-BEITAIN.
375
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1 S^S^SS?^"^'*'" II II II Mill
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Kenneth Macalpin over the Scots
and Picta
Donald Macalpin- . . .
Gonstantin II., the son of Kennsth
Aodh or Hugh, the son of Kenneth
Eocha or Achy and Grig jointly -
Donal IV., the son of Gonstantin -
CoNSTANTiN III., the son of Aodh -
Malcolm I., the son of Donal IV. -
iNDULF, the son of Gonstantin III.
DuF, the son of Malcolm I. -
OuLEN, the son of Indulf
Kenneth ni.,thesiin of Malcolm I.
CONSTANTIN IV. , the SOU of Culen -
Kenneth IV., surnamed Grim, the
son of Duff
Duncan, thegrandson of Malcolm II.
Macbeth, the son of Finlech -
LuLACH, the son of Gruoch and
Gilcouigain - - - . .
Oonal-Bane, the son of Duncan -
Duncan 11., son of Malcolm III. -
Uonal-Bane, ayain
376 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— r^e Scottish Period.
Kenneth.
The great exploit of the son of Alpin was the suppression of the Pictish
government, which led to the Union of the conquered with the conquerors, a
congenerous people, at a happy epoch for both. Whether the Scots overpowered
the Picts under Kenneth, or the Picts over-ran the Scots, has been made a
question by system, by perverting tradition and embarrassing history, by
confounding facts and vitiating truth, though without much success (e).
Kenneth appears, from the events of his reign over both those people, to have
been an able and a warlike prince. He frequently invaded Lothian, the Saxonia
of the Chronicles. He burnt the castle of Dunbar and violated the abbey of
Melrose during the embarrassments of Northumberland, without pretending to
retain what he could not have easily held {/). It required, indeed, all the
vigour and all the valour of Kenneth to defend the kingdom which he had
acquired by address and fortitude. The Britons of Strathclyde appear to have
burnt Dunblane. The Danish pirates, wasting Pictavia, advanced into the in-
terior as far as Clunie in Stormont and Dunkeld on the Tay, under the
influences of Ragnar Lodbrog, whose desire was plunder, and whose delight
was blood (</). He soon after met his merited fate in Northumberland, amid
a congenerous people. Kenneth was also a religious prince, as religion was then
understood and practised ; and in 850 a.d. he removed the relics of Saint
Columba from lona to a church which he had built at Dunkeld. To him
also is attributed, with as much certainty, the removal of an object of equal
veneration and more efficacy, the fatal stone, which he brought with him from
Argyll and placed at Scone. He has been celebrated as a legislator. The
Macaljjine laws, which have been attributed by folly or fiction to the son of
Alpin, are undoubtedly spurious. Yet may it be allowed to probability of
such a prince that, when he united two people under one government, he
may have established some general regulations for the common observance of
his united people (li). Kenneth died at Forteviot, the Pictish capital, where
(«) See book iii., cli. i. and xi.
(/) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App. ; Higden's Polycliromcon, p. 210.
{g) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App. ; Langebek's Scriptores Dan., v. ii., p. 2, 3, etc. ; Turner's Hist.
Ang.-Sax., V. ii., p. 115-117.
(/() The ancient Chronicles in Innes speak of the laws of Kenneth. He may have interwoven
some of the congenial laws and usages of the Picts with those of the Scoto-Irish. Several of
the terms of the Scottish law are traced to the Irish language, and some of them to the Cambro-
British speech. See the Introduction to the Top. Diet. It is even possible that some of the
Ch.Vn..— The Scots and Picts.'] Or NORTH-BRITAIN. 377
he and his Scots naturally ruled, on the 6th of February, 859 (i). Kenneth
left a son, Constantm, who did not immediately assume his sceptre, and a
daughter, Maolmhuire, who is extremely celebrated in Irish story as the wife
and mother of many kings (k).
DONAL III.,
The son of Alpin, succeeded his brother Kenneth in 859. He is characterised
by the Gaelic bard, " Dhomhnaill dhreachruaid," Donnal of ruddy countenance.
The Chronicon Elegiacum speaks of him by a feature of his mind, as strenuous
iai war. Fiction, directing the pen of Buchanan, attributes to Donal all the
vices of peace with none of the attributes of war. Yet the praise which was
given him by ancient chronicles is assigned him by modern inquiry. During
his short reign the laws of Aodhfin, the son of Eocha III., were re-enacted by
the Scoto-Irish chiefs at Forteviot {I). He died at his palace of Balachoir, in
the year 863 (m) ; yet was he carried to Icolm-kill, " the sacred storehouse of
Macalpin laws, as we see them in the fictitious pages of Boece, may be borrowed from some ordinance
of Kenneth. The first section of the Macalpin code provides " that in every district there shall be a
judge for deciding controversies, well skilled in the laws, and that the sons of every judge sJiovld he
"brought up in the same studi/.'' What is this but a repetition of the Brehon law of the Irish, which
was practised by the Scoto-Irish of Kenneth. Every chief, or Jlaith, had a Brehon or judge within his
district ; and this office was hereditary, descending to the sons, who were instructed in their father's
knowledge. See Harris's Ware, p. 76.
(f) Innes's MS. Collections. The accuracy of this date reconciles some of the contrarieties of chro-
nologists on this important point. Every authority agi'ees in the length of Kenneth's reign over the
Picts, which is restricted by each to sixteen years, except the Gaelic bard, who extends his reign over
both Scots and Picts to thirty years instead of twenty-three. If the epoch of his accession over the
united kingdom was 843 A.D., and he reigned sixteen years, as all enquirers agree, the date of his de-
mise must be 859 A.d., whatever scepticism may doubt.
(k) O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 484 ; Kennedy's Chron. and Geneal. Dissert, on the Family of the
Stuarts, 1705, p. 184. Maolmhuire is a Gaelic name, signifying the devotee of Mary. The pious
daughter of Kenneth was married first to Aodh-Finliath, who reigned in Leland from 863 to 879
4-i>. ; and she married for her second husband the successor of the first, Flann-Sionna, who ruled that
island from 897 to 916 a.d. Ogygia, p. 434. This follower of Mary died in 912 a.d Ulster Annals.
She had several sons by both her husbands, who reigned in Ireland during their appointed periods,
and a daughter, Ligaoh, who married Oongal, the king of Ireland, and died in 923 a.d. Kennedy's
Stuarts, p. 184.
(I) The Colbertine Chronicle, in Innes, No. 3 ; and the Enquiry, 1789, vol. i., p. 492.
()/() Chron. No. 3 in Innes. The Chronicle, in the Reg. of St. Andrews, states that he died in Rathin-
veraiuon, the same place where Constantin IV. finished his career in 995. Rath-inver-amou, as the
name imports, was a strength or fortress, which the Scottish kings had at the influx of the Amou into
Vol. I. 3 0
378 AnACCOUNT [Book 111— The Scottish Period.
" his progenitors," where many a successor found lasting repose from the tur-
moils of savage times.
CONSTANTIN,
The son of Kenneth, immediately succeeded his uncle Donald. The new
king found his coimtry in the unhappy state of France, Ireland, and England,
doomed to suffer all the miseries of the Danish depredations, which the policy
of an unexperienced age was unable to prevent. The first serious attack of the
Danes was made on Ireland, and vigorously repulsed, during the year 812 (n).
But the vikingr of those times, as they lived amidst adventure and perils,
were not to be discouraged by whatever danger. It required half a century of
bloody conflicts and of alternate success to make good their settlements along
the shores of the sacred isle, which was now defiled by the footsteps of the
felons (o). North-Britain was at length subjected to the unhappy fate of being
attacked on both her shores by the most desperate invaders, whose hope was
pillage and whose desire was slaughter. From those commodious stations in
Ireland, the vikingr were now enabled to attack the vulnerable coasts of Scot-
land on the west. From their native havens they had but an easy voyage to
the eastern shores of that devoted land. From Ireland, they found in the
Clyde a commodious inlet into the country, and inflicted many a wound on
the Tay. This strength, with the adjoining village of Bertha, was swept away by a river-flood in the
beginning of the 13th century. Stat. Account, v. xv., p. 529. All the authorities concur in limiting
the reign of Donal III. to four years.
(«) Ware's Antiq., p. 102.
(o) lb., 100-8. Ulster Annals, sub an., 852 ; Langebek's Scrip., t. i., p. 415. Aulaf or Olave,
according to the Genealogical Table of Langebek, t. ii., p. 415, may be traced up through the North-
umbrian and Danish kings to that mighty vikingr, Eagner Lodbrok. In the year 853 Aulaf arrived in
Ireland with a great fleet and many adventurers ; and the Danes, who were already settled along the
Irish shores, submitted to his congenial power. Ulster Annals ; Ware's Antiq., p. 106. About the
same time arrived Ivar, the brother of Aulaf, with whom he confederated in some of his expeditions,
and in many of his Irish conflicts. Ulster Annals ; Ware's Antiq., p. 107-8. Sitric, a third brother,
at the same period took possession of Limerick, on the opposite coast of Ireland. Girald. Oamb. Top.
Hibem., 1. iii., c. xliii. ; Ware's Antiq., 106-7. The Danish rovers had also considerable estabhsh-
ments at Waterford ; and they rendezvouzed in several commodious harbours on the east and north
coast of Ireland, at Wexford, Strangford, Carlingford, Belfast-Loch, Loch-Foyle, which is called Loch-
Fevall in the Annals of Ulster. Strangford, which in the same Annals is called Loch da Gaoch, was
their chief resort when they were driven from Dublin by the Irish at two different times. But Dubhn
was the usual seat of their power, the mart of their plunder, and the scene of their dissensions. Ware's
Antiq., chap. xxiv.
Ch.YU.—T/ie Scots and Pkts.^ OpNORTH-BRITAIN. 379
the enfeebled Britons of Strathclyde. The frith of Moray, tlie river Taj, and
the estuary of Forth, offered the Danish pirates attractive harboiirs on the east.
The towns, the capitals, the royal seats, and the religious houses, appear to
have been generally the chief objects of their attack and plunder. Those odious
expeditions against North-Britain from Ireland were begun about the middle
of the ninth century, and were continued till the middle of the tenth, when the
Ostmen of Ireland were converted to Christianity. This important change in
their religious principles will be found to have greatly mitigated their natural
ferocity, and, in the progress of improvement, to have subdued their piratical
practices (p). The predatory incursions from the Danish shores against the
eastern coast of North-Britain, we shall see in the tenth and in the beginning
of the eleventh century. We shall perceive Malcolm II. crush the Danish
power in North-Britain, as Brian Boromhe in 1014 a.d. gave the Danish in-
truders a deadly wound in Ireland. The spirit of piracy, meantime, evaporated
as Christianity had been introduced into the pagan regions of the North, and
the gradual improvements of the European governments lessened the expecta-
tion of impunity as well as the hope of pillage (q).
In the meantime, Constantin II. had to meet the fury of their devastations
while the rage of piracy was at its highest paroxysm. In 866 a.d. the Danes
of Ireland under Aulaf, their ferocious chief, ravaged the Caledonian coasts
from the 1st of January to the 17th of March (r). Gorged with prey, they
retreated to their Irish strengths, where they soon prepared for a greater voyage.
In 870 the Danish rovers sailed from Dublin for the Clyde with augmented
numbers ; and Aulaf and Ivar, their leaders, besieged the British Alcluyd,
(p) The following chronological series of the chief reguh of the Ostmen in Ireland, which was
compiled from the Irish Annals (Ware's Antiq. Hibeni., ch. xxiv.), from Usher's Primord., from
Langebek's Soriptores, will exhibit the principal actors in the successive scenes of pii-atical devasta-
tions, during the period of their expeditions into North-Britain :
Aulav, and Ivar, his brother, ruled from - 853 to 872 a.d,
Ostin, the son of Aulav, naled from - - 872 to 875
Godfred, the son of Ivar, ruled from - 875 to 888
Sitrig, the son of Ivar, governed alone from 888 to 892
Sitrig and Godfrid Merle jointly ruled from 892 to 896
Ivar, the son of Ivar, governed from - 896 to 904
Eeginald, the son of Ivar, ruled from - 904 to 921
Godfrey, the son of Ivar, governed from - 921 to 934
Aulav, the son of Godfrey, ruled from - 934 to 941
Blackar, the son of Godfrey, ruled from - 941 to 948
Godfrey, the son of Sitrig, - - - 948
(q) Harald Harfagre is said to have discountenanced piracy. Snorre's Harald's Saga, p. 80.
(r) Ulster Annals ; Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App.
3 C2
380 An account Book III.— The Scottish Period.
which they took at the end of four months by blockade rather than assault.
They now plundered the whole extent of North-Britain, and they at length,
in 871, set their triumphant sails, with much plunder and many captives, for
Dublin, the seat of their power and the mart of their pillage (s). The Strath-
clyde Britons had soon to sustain another blow. In 871 Artga, their king,
was slain by the procurement of Constantin, on whatever motive of revenge
or enmity (0. In 875 the Danes under Halfden, their furious leader, issued
from Northumberland, and wasted Strathclyde and Galloway (u). Such was
the frequency of the Danish invasions that the wretched land was seldom at
rest. In 876 they again invaded North-Britain, where they remained, amidst
doubtful conflicts, for several months (x). In 881 Constantin had to sustain
a still greater invasion of the odious foe. On the shores of the Forth he en-
countered them bravely, and here he worthily fell in fighting for his
people (]/). The Gaelic bard tried to perpetuate his fame in oracular verse :
" Gona bhrigh
"Don churaidh do Clionstantin : "
Tlie hero Constantin bravely fought,
Throughout a lengthened reign (z).
(s) Annals of Ulster ; Oaradoo ; O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 484 ; Ware's Antiq. Hibern., p. 108 ;
Langebek's Scriptores, t. v., p. 19. In 872 Aulaf appears to have led another expedition into North-
Britain, when he met his merited fate from the injured hand of Constantin. Chron. No. 3 in Innes's
App. and in the Enquiry, 1789, p. 493. In 875 Ostin, the son of Aulav, king of the Northmen in
Ireland, defeated the Scots, and was afterwards treacherously slain by his own countrymen. Annals
of Ulster; Ware's Antiq. Hibern., p. 108. Ivar died in 878. Ulster Annals; and Ware, p. 108.
Godfrid, the son of Ivar, was treacherously killed by his brother Sitrlc, who succeeded him in 888 a.d.
Ulster An. ; Ware's Antiq., p. 109.
(t) Ulster Annals.
((/) Sax. Chron., p. 83; Florence Wigom, p. 314 ; Usher"« Primord., p. 719 ; O'Flaherty's Ogygia,
p. 48.5.
(ar) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App.
(y) Innes's App., p. 801 ; Chron. Elegiacum, in Chron. Melrose. During this invasion upon the coast
of Fife, several of the Scottish Ecclesiastics, taking refuge in the Isle of May, were slain by the pagan
Danes. Langebek's Script., vol. v., p. 57. Tradition still recollects, with a sort of horror, the several
conflicts which the inhabitants of this part of Fife had to maintain with the Danish rovers ; and the
skeletons which are frequently found upon the shore, from Leven river to the eastern extremity of
Largo Bay, are regarded by the people as the remains of the heroes who then fell Ln battle. The
standing stones which still appear along this coast, though they may have been erected for very dif-
ferent purposes in prior ages, are supposed, by antiquarian prejudice, to have been set up as memorials
of the repulse of the Danish intruders. The site of the glorious death of Constantin is pointed out.
even now, within the parish of Crail. In a small cave, near a rampart called the Dane's dike, Constantin
is said to have been sacrificed to the manes of the Danish leaders. Stat. Account, vol. iv., p. 546 ;
vol. v., p. 116 ; vol. ix., p. 454.
(z) The ancient Chronicles differ as to the length of the reign of Constantin. See the Chron.
Oh. Yll.—The Scots and Fids.} OpNORTH-BEITAIN. 381
AOBH.
To Constantin aucceeded, in 881 a.d., his brother Aodh or Hugh. The
Gaehc bard characterizes Aodh by an epithet which seems to denote effeminacy
of character :
" Da brathair do Aodli Jlionsyothach :"
To his brother followed Aodh, the fair haird.
His reign was as short and troublous as it was unfortunate for the unhappy
Hugh. The bard speaks feelingly of the wretchedness of the age, and of the
fate of Aodh :
"Da bliadhain ha daor a dhath:"
Two years were hard complexiund times.
It was his misfortune to reign while Grig was Maormor of the extensive
country between tlie Dee and the Spey. This artful chieftain found no great
diflSculty to raise up a competitor with a faction to oppose the king. The con-
tending parties met in Strathallan on a bloody field, wherein the son of the
great Kenneth was wounded ; and being carried to Inverurie, he died two
months after this fatal conflict, and one year after his sad accession, during
Table, before. After the minutest investigation, the real period of Constantin's reign appears to
have been eighteen years. The genuine chronology evinces the fact. Aodh, his successor, reigned
only one year, as all the chroniclers agree. An eclipse of the sun happened on the 8th of August,
891, being the day of St. Siriac, in the ninth year of the conjoint reign of Eocha and Grig. Ohron.
No. 3 in Innes's App. ; Chron. des Eclipses, L'Art de verefier les dates. Now, all those circumstances
and dates concur to demonstrate that the length of Constantin's reign must have extended to eighteen
._years :
Thus, the date of the sun's eclipse was in - - 891 A.D.
the ninth year of Eocha and Grig being the same - 891
Deduct their nine years reign - - 9
The date of their accession - - 882
Deduct for the reign of Aodh - . 1
The accession of Aodh and the demise of Constantin - 881
The year of Constantin's accession deducted - - 863
Leaves for the length of his reign - 18 Years.
The Enquirer into the History of Scotland, 1789, though he is wrong in placing the accession of
Constantin II. in 864, yet he 'is right in stating the length of his reign to have been eighteen years.
Enquiry, vol. ii., p. 178.
382 AnACCOUNT Book lU.—The Scottish Period.
wretched times, in 881 a.d. The same stroke of treachery which sent Hugh
untimely to lona, entailed upon his people the usual miseries of a disputed
reign (a).
EocHA and Grig.
The bloody sceptre of Hugh was immediately seized by Grig. To colour
his usurpation, this ferocious chief associated with himself Eoclia, the son of
Ku, the British king of Strathclyde, and the grandson, by a daughter, of
Kenneth Macalpin (6). Eocha and Grig are said to have reigned jointly ;
but we may easily suppose that this able usurper actually governed Eocha
and his kingdom. This is Gregory the Great, of Scottish fiction, who is said
to have overwhelmed the Picts, to have crushed the Britons, to have con-
quered England, and subdued Ireland. Beyond these assumptions of fablers,
fiction cannot go. The virtues, the valour, the successes of Gregory, which
shine so resplendent in Buchanan's pages, may be all traced up to the pious
gratitude of the monks of St. Andrews (c). But it were as idle to trace fable
to its fountain as to attempt to ascertain the chronology of events which never
happened (tZ). Grig, like other usux-pers, appears to have conferred some
privileges on the ecclesiastics of his age (e) ; and they were studious, by grate-
ful falsehoods, to defile his predecessor with vices, and to crown himself with
greatness. The Gaelic bard, who certainly never tasted the bounty of Grig,
bestowed not any blandishments on Eocha and his guardian ; but the favour
(a) AH the authorities agree in giving Aodh a reign of only one year, except the Gaelic bard, who
is followed by the congenial O'Flaherty. See the Chronicles in Innes's App. No. 3, 4, 5, and 6 ; and
the Chron. Elegiacum. The Annals of Ulster, under the year 878, say that Aodh, the son of
Kenneth, was killed " a sociis svis," which intimates that he was slain by the sword of civil discord.
O'Flaherty's Ogygia, p. 485. The Chron. in the Eeg. of St. Andrews and the Chron. Elegiacum
state that he was slain in the battle of Strathallan. The Chron. No. 3 in Innes state his death
in Nrurin. The fact appears to be that he was wounded in the battle of Strathallan, and died two
months after at Inverurie. See Fordun, 1. iv., cap. svii. It is impossible to read the narrative of the
reign of Hugh, as it is written by Buchanan, without disdain, for the prostitution of such talents to
the ends of fiction.
(b) The Chronicon in Innes's App. No. 3 ; and in the Enquiry, 1789, v. i.; App., p. 493.
(c) See the Chron. in the Reg. of St. Andrews in Innes's App. No. 5.
(d) Wise on the Chronology of the Fabulous Ages.
(e) The Chronicle in the Eegister of St. Andrews says that he gave liberty to the Scottish church,
which before had been held in slavery.
Ch. VII.— 77(6 Picts and Scots.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 383
of the church did not protect the usurper from the indignation of the people.
At the end of eleven years they were driven from the throne which they had
mounted by the dangerous steps of civil war {f). The filiation of Grig is
doubtful, but the weight of evidence gives him Dungal and not Donald for
his father ; and it is obvious that from descent he was mei'ely the Maormor
of the ample country comprehending Aberdeen and Banff. He appears to
have been a chieftain of vigorous character, a man of unprincipled morals, with
studied attention to religious appearances. His name has been as cruelly tor-
tured as his nature was cruel. O'Flaherty indeed calls him Grig, the son of
Dungal, or in the Irish form Gairig Macdungal (g), and Geirg in the Gaelic
signifies ^erce or cruel (h). Owing to some cause which is not intimated in
any of the chronicles, though it is so unusual. Grig was allowed to live four
years after his dethronement ; and he died by a quiet expiration at his castle of
Dunnideer, during the year 897 a.d. (i).
(/) Chron. No. 3 ; Innes's App. 785. The eclipse of the sun, which happened in the 9th year
of this reign, fixes its commencement to 882 a.d. lb., 784-5 ; Chron. des Eclipses, in L'Ait de
verefier les Dates, v. i., p. 68. The Chron., No. 4, 5, and G, in Innes's App., concur to extend this
odious reign to twelve years. The Chron., No. 3 in Tnnes, restricts it to eleven years ; and this length
of reign is adopted by Innes in his Vei-a Series, and by Pinkerton in his Enquiry. The Chronicon
Elegiacum extends this reign to eighteen years, an elongation this which appears to have arisen from
carrying it beyond the dethronement of Grig to his death, which is said to have happened in 897.
Chron. of Melrose. But the context of the Genuine Cha'onology only allows eleven years to the wretched
reign of Eocha and Grig.
(g) Ogygia. P- 485.
(h) O'Brien and Shaw. The Chron. in the Reg. of St. Andrews calls him Girg, of which Gri(/
is a corruption, by transposing the letter (r) ; and this transposition is frequently made by the Scoto-
Saxon people, as Britgh for Burgh, and as Lanark, and several other places of the same name, are
generally pronounced Lanrick.
(f) The Dundurn in the Chronicle of St. Andrews, and the Dunduren of the Chronicon Elegiacum,
mean Dunaduire, the well-known hill of Dunnideer, in the Garioch, Aberdeenshire. On the summit
of this conical mount there is the remain of an ancient castle, which had consisted of a double court
of buildings, that appear to have been partly constructed of the ruined ramparts of a still older vitri-
fied fortification around the summit. The tradition of the country states that this castle was inhabited
by Grig, who therein finished quietly his guilty career. Description of the Garioch in the Edinburgh
Mag., 1760, p. 452 ; Oordiner's Antiq., p. 32-3; Stat. Account, v. xvii., p. 468 ; and the same tra-
dition appears to have existed before the days of Fordun, who says that Gregory, after a strenuous
reign, closed his career at Dornedeore. 1. iv., cap. xviii.
38-i AnACCOUNT [Book lU..—The Scottish Period.
DONAL IV.,
The son of Constantin, succeeded Eocha and Grig in 893 a.d. Yet did
he not enjoy in quiet what he had acquired with vigour, while the Northmen
continued to agitate the sea, and nations aroiind trembled for their fate. Donal
had to sustain a fresh invasion of the Danes from whatever coast. As the
object of the invaders was either Forteviot or Dunkeld, they landed on the
Tay. The chiefs, with a gallant people, hastened to defend t\ie fatal stone, the
sacred palladium of the state. Donal met the invaders in the well-fought field
of Collin on the Tay, which is still remarkable, in the vicinity of Scone Qc).
The ferocity of the foe shrunk up before the valour of Donal, who was ani-
mated by a greater object, and the Danes fled from the patriot swords of the
Scots, who fought for the dear object of the national safety. Yet this great
defeat did not restrain the restless Vikingr from their odious practices. In the
year 904, the Danes of Ireland under Ivar O'lvar, invaded North-Bi'itain on
the west, and having penetrabed into the coantry eastward, with a view to the
plunder of Forteviot, the Scottish capital, they were bravely encountered and
their leader killed by Donal, who fell himself in gallantly defending his harassed
people. He thus ended a meritorious reign of eleven years in 904 a.d. [l).
The Gaelic bard characterizes the son of Constantin as
"Dornhnal Mic Constantin chain:"
Donal, Constantin's son, the eloquent.
But the Gaelic epithet chain rather means chaste or beloved, and even the
malignity of Buchanan allows that Donal was equally dear to the high and
low.
(k) See Stobie's Map of Perthsliire. Tlie old Chronicles specify Collan as tie scene of this battle ;
and Innes, with his followers, suppose this place, from the similarity of the name, without authority to
have been InverouUen on the Moray frith, where indeed a still more bloody conflict happened during
the reign of Indulf.
{!) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App., and in the Enquiry, 1789, v. i., App., p. 493 ; Annals of Ulster.
See the Chron. Table ; Innes's Vera Series, and his four Chronicles all agree in this length of reign ;
but he and the Enquirer of 1789 have quite mistaken the place of his death, being again misled by the
similarity of names. The Chronicle plainly says : " Opidum Father occisum est a gentibus." This
obviously means Father, tbe residence of the Scottish kings, now Forteviot in Strathearn, and not
Forres in the North. Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 181. Their mistake is also evinced by the Ulster Annals,
■which say, under 904 a.d., that "Ivar O'lvar was killed by the men of Fortren,'' the name by which
they call the Pictish capital.
Ch. VIL— ne Scots and Picts.'] OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 385
CONSTANTIN III,
The son of Aodh, immediately began a reign of unusual lengtli, but of little
quiet. As he assumed tlie sceptre and sword of his predecessor in 904 a.d., he
was doomed to reign in troublous times ; and he appears himself to have been
enterprizing and warlike. The Gaelic bard says that —
" Constantin ba calma a gkleac:"
Constantin was valiant in battle (Z).
All his enterprize and all his valour were soon required to protect his people
from invasion. In 907 the Danes, from whatever shore, made a general
ravage of North-Britain, and they seem to have even plundered Dunkeld
before they could be opposed by the efforts of Constantin (m) ; but attempting
to attack Forteviot in Strathearn, the Pictish meti'opolis, during the subsequent
year, they were met in conflict : they were defeated, and they were driven from
this afllicted country by a gallant people (n). The land was now for a while
quiet. But another invasion was made from Ireland by the Danes, under
Reginald, who directed his fleet into the Clyde. This incursion is said to have
happened in the eighteenth year of Constantin (o) ; yet the Ulster Annals
date this odious expedition in 918. The Scots, who were said to have been
assisted on this occasion by some of the Northern Saxons, at length attacked
the invaders at Tinmore. To meet this onset of an enraged and intrepid
people, the Danes are said to have been drawn up in four divisions. The first
was conducted by Godfrey O'lvar, the second by Earls, the third by chief-
tains, and the fourth by the skilful Pieginald, who, as he commanded the
reserve, seems to have placed his party in ambush. The four first divisions
were unable to withstand the attack of the Scots, which was furious and well
directed by Constantin (p). The success of Reginald's ambuscade is but faintly
claimed ; and the retreat of the invaders during the night proclaimed the
(Z) This is mistranslated in the Enquiry, 1789,. v. ii., p. 325. •' Constantin was powerful and
expert.'' But see the words Calma and Gleac in O'Brien and Shaw.
(m) Chron. in Innes's App. No. 3.
(») Colbertine Chron. in Enquiry, 1789, v. i., App. p. 493.
(o) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App., which calls the place where the battle was fought, Tinmore.
(7;) The Annals of Ulster mention particularly two Danish chiefs, Otter and Gragava, who com-
manded a party, of whom the Scots madt: great slaughter in this battle. Simeon Dunelm., p. 133,
mentions Otter, Comes, and Osvul Cracaha as being with Reginald rex at the taking and pillage of
Dublin about the year 912.
Vol. I. 3D
386
An account [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
victory of the Scots, which was the more glorious as it was obtained without
the loss of either king or maormor (q). This defeat forbade the return of the
Irish Danes for many years. Constantin was, however, disquieted from tlie
south. During the year 924 Edward the Elder came into the north of
Eno-land, and made pretensions which he lived not to support (r). Edward,
in 925, left his sceptre and his sword to his son ^Ethelstan, who knew well
how to exercise both. Were we to credit the English chroniclers, who have
their fictions in policy as well as their errors of ignorance, we ought to believe
that vEthelstan, in 934, entered Scotland by land and sea, and wasted a
country which he could not subdue (s). All the circumstances attending this
expedition concur to evince that Constantin had the prudence to remain in his
fastnesses behind the friths, till the storm of war which the wrath of ^thelstau
had raised passed unheeded over a wasted land. Constantin is said to have
provoked this invasion by breaking the league which he had made with the
invader (t). He perhaps gave full as much oflPence by affording an asylum to
Godred, a fugitive prince of Northumberland ; and he was now compelled,
saj's Florence, to reneAv the peace by giving valuable presents to the invader
((]) Ulster Annals; Ware's Antiq., p. 110. Godfrey, the son of Ivar, wlio commandecl one
of the divisions in the battle of Tinmore in 918, must be distinguished from his uncle Godfrey,
the son of Ivar, who was assassinated by his brother Sitric in 888. After this deed Sitric enjoyed
the rule of the Ostmen of Dublin alone till 892, when Godfrey, who was surnamed Merle, started
up as the rival of Sitric, and shared with him the rule of Dublin with the vikingr. Ware's Antiq,, p.
109. Sitric, the son of Ivar, was himself assassinated by Godfrey's partizans in 896. Id. Anlaf, the
son of Ivar, was slain in a conflict with the people of Ulster in 896. Id. In 902 the vikingr of
Dublin were defeated with great slaughter by the Irish, who expelled them from that piratical haunt.
The Danish rovers now found a commodious rendezvous during their banishment from Dublin in
Lochdacaooh. Ulster Annals ; Ware's Antiq., p. 109. Ivar, the son of Ivar, who was slain in 904:
A.D., left three sous — Eeginald, who succeeded him as the i-uler of the Irish Ostmen ; and Sitric and
Godfrey, who were also vikingr. Eeginald was obliged to maintain his authority by force. He was
induced, by his desire of employing the vikingr, to conduct them to the fatal shore of Loch-Fyne in
Gowal. In 921 Eeginald was in his turn slain, and was succeeded by his brother Godfrey, who was
infamous for cruelty even among the vikingr, and who died in 934. Ulster Annals ; Ware's Antiq.,
p. 110.
(r) Sax. Chron., p. 110; Flor. Wigorn., p. 437, who places this expedition of Edward's in
921 A.D.
(s) Sax. Chron., p. Ill; Flor. Wig., p. 349. O'Flaherty states this event in 933, and adds
that Edinburgh was spoiled, but that ^thelstan was obliged to retire without a victory. Ogygia,
p. 485.
(?) Florence, as above.
Ch. Yll.—The Scots and Picts.} OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 387
with his son as an hostage (u). Subsequent events evince, however, that Con-
stantin regarded ^thelstan with feelings of enmity, perhaps of resentment.
He formed an extensive league with several princes of various lineages, who all
hated ^thelstan, because they feared him. The most powerful of all those
was Anlaf, who had married Constantin's daughter ; and was at once king of
Dublin and Northumberland (x). The most distant vikingr hastened to join
the confederates against ^thelstan from the hoi^e of plunder, as they knew not
danger. A vast fleet was now collected, probably into the Tay and Foi'th ;
and, in the year 937, they sailed without obstruction mto the Humber (y).
^thelstan was too wise not to foresee this invasion, and too vigorous not to
provide against its effects. He had collected a great army, and he had assem-
bled the ablest and bravest of his chiefs, with Turketel, the chancellor of
England at their head. Near Brunanburgh, at no great distance from the
southern shore of the Humber, ensued a battle, which was then unexampled
in the EngUsh annals, and which lasted, with alternate success, from the dawn
of day till the going down of the sun. Of the many warriors who displayed
the most hardy deeds on that bloody field, Turketel distinguished himself by
superior skill and iinconquerable bravery ; and the chancellor of England
was most ably supported by the prudence and valoiu* of his sovereign. On
the side of the invaders, Anlaf was most remarkable for the artifices of Avar,
and the intrepedity of his spirit. Constantin was now too far stricken in years
for feats of hardihood, but his son exerted many acts of forward valiance ;
and when he was slain, after a violent conflict, victory delivered the wreath
to ^thelstan which he had fairly won. Yet the field had been so manfully
(u) Flor. Wig., p. 349. But the Saxon Clironicle is silent as to tlie presents and tlie hostage.
About these events the Scottish chroniclers imitate the silence of the Saxon Chronicle rather than the
loquacity of Florence. Malmsbury has some monkish eloquence on this occasion. He reports that
.ffithelstan declared, when he had given peace to Constantin, that he wutdd rather bestow kingduins than
enjoy them. Lib. ii., c. vi. We might ask Malmsbury who gave him this fine speech which history
is studious to repeat. This question is too seldom asked of ancient historians.
(.r) Flor. Wigora., p. 349.
{y) The Saxon Chronicle and Florence place that event in 938 a.d. The ancient Chron. in Innes's
App. No. 3, says that it happened in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Constantin, which corres-
ponds with 937-8. Yet the Chronicle of Melrose, the L-ish Annals, and Usher in his Primord., p. 720,
place the battle of Brunanburgh in 937, for which date he quotes Turgot, Henry of Huntington,
Florence, mistakenly, Roger Hoveden. Matthew Flor. Langebek concurs with Usher in Script. Dan.,
t. ii., p. 412, wherein may be seen the Anglo-Saxon poem which was composed on that impoiiant
event.
3 D2
388 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book 111.— The Scottish Period.
fought, that Constantin and Anlaf were able to make good a retreat to their
shipping, though with the loss of many a life (z).
From this epoch Scotland was quiet. iEthelstan in 941 left his kingdom
to his brother Edmund ; and Constantin brooded over the infirmities and mis-
fortunes of his years. With all his bustle and his bravery Constantin ap-
pears to have been religious. In the sixth year of his reign the king, with
Cellach the bishop and the Scottish chiefs, solemnly swore, on the Moot-hill
of Scone, to maintain the faith, with the laws and discipline of the chui'ch (a) ;
(s) Among the Danisli reguli of Ireland and Nortliumberland the same names occur so fre-
quentljr that different persons are often confounded. Such has been the case with Anhif, the
antagonist of ^thelstan, and the son-in-law of Constantin. He has been confounded with another
Anlaf, who succeeded him as regulus of Northumbria. Sitrig, the kinglet of Northumberland,
who married the sister of .ffithelstan in 925, died in 926, leaving two sons, Godfrey and Anlaf,
by a former marriage. These young princes were expelled from Northumberland by the jealousy
of ^thelstan. Godfrey sought refuge in Scotland, and afterwards became a vikingr ; Anlaf fled
to his kindred, the vikingi- of Ireland. Godfrey, the son of Ivar, who was then regulus of the
Irish Danes, was in 934 succeeded in this rule by Anlaf, whom Ware, from the Irish Annals,
calls the son of Godfrey. Antiq. Hibern., p. 110, ann. ult. In 937 Anlaf confederated with his
father-in-law Constantin, the king of Scots, and with several reguli, against .Slthclstan. This
confederacy was dissolved by the decisive battle of Bninanburgh, and Anlaf returned to Dublin.
Upon the death of ^thelstan, the restless Northumbrians threw off their allegiance to his
successor Edmund, and elected Anlaf, the regulus of the Danes in Ireland, to be their king. After
some vigorous and successful hostilities by Anlaf against the English king, a peace was made, by
which Anlaf obtained all that part of England lying on the north of Watling Street. In 941 he
spoiled the church of St. Balthar and burnt Tyningham in East-Lothian; and he died in 941. For
all those events, see the Annals of Ulster ; Ware's Antiq., ch. xxiv. ; Sax. Chron. ; Florence Wigorn.,
p. 348-350; Hoveden, p. 422-3; Sim. Dun., p. 134, 154-5; Malmsbury, in Saville, p. 50, 53;
Wallingford, in Gale, v. iii., p. 540 ; Higden's Polychron, in Gale, v. iii., p. 262 ; Matthew of West-
minster, p. 365. The Saxon Chronicle places the death of Anlaf in 942, but in several of its notices
about this period the dates of this invaluable Chronicle are one year behind the other authorities.
Ware states, from the Irish Annals, that Anlaf died suddenly in 941. The hero of Brunanburgh was
succeeded as regulus of the Danes in Ireland by Blackar, the son of Godfrey (Ware, ch. xxiv.), and as
regulus of Northumbria by Anlaf, the son of Sitrig. Roger Hoveden, p. 423 ; Sim. Dun., p. 134.
In 944 Anlaf, the son of Sitrig, and Reginald, the son of Godfrey, tbe reguli of Northumberland,
were expelled from that country by Edmund, the English king. In 949 Anlaf, the son of Sitrig,
returned to Northumberland, but he was again expelled in 952, being supplanted by Eric, who
was himself defeated and killed by the Northumbrians in 954 a.d. From that epoch this turbulent
country was governed by earls, of whom Osulf was the first who was appointed by Edred, the
king of England. Saxon Ohron. ; Florence Wigorn, p. 351-2 ; Sim. Dun., p. 135, 155 ; Hoveden, p.
423. The genealogy of the reguli of Northumberland in Langebek's Script., v. ii., p. 415, is by no
means correct.
(") Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App. ; Critical Essay, p. 588; Enquiry, 1789, v. i., p. 493. The
intimation in the text evinces how laws were in that rude ao-e enacted.
Ch. VII.— r/ie Scots and Picts.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 389
aud in the fortieth yeai* of liis reign, when he had decHned into the evening of
life, he rehnquished his diadem for the cowl, and retiring into the monastery
of St. Andrews, he became abbot of the Culdees. Here, having thus relin-
quished his sceptre, he rested from his turmoils on the staff; and here he closed
a long and various life in the retirement of the cloister (6).
Malcolm I.,
The son of Donald IV., and the great grandson of Kenneth, the illustrious
founder of the Scottish and Pictish kingdom, immediately assumed the sword
of the aged Constantin. The abdication of the preceding king occasioned,
among a rude people, those perturbations which such anomalies produce under
the best established govenuuents. The Moray-men, instigated by Cellach
their chief, rose in discontent ; but the great event of this short reign was
the obtaining of Cumbria from Edmund in 945 (a). The interest of both
parties seems to have dictated this transaction. After wasting Cumberland, the
Enghsh king resigned what he could not easily retain, on condition of amity and
aid : the Scottish sovereign acquired a convenient territory on the easy terms
of defending that northern country, and of acting as the ally of Edmund. The
king of England, dying by the dagger of assassination in 946, left his difficult
charge to his brother Edited. Northumberland, inhabited as it was by a very
mixed people, was again agitated by Anlaf. Edred restored tranquility by
wasting the land in 950. On that occasion he required the stipulated aid of
Malcolm (b). The Scottish king did not hesitate, as his interest concurred with
his policy. He over-ran Lothian, which then formed part of England ; he
entered Northumberland ; and, imitating the example of Edred, by exerting
the same powers of mischief, Malcohn wasted the country and carried off the
(5) Usher's Prim., p. 659. The Book of Cluan states the death of Constantin in 952. Ogygia, p.
486. The Ulster Annals record it in 952 a.d. The Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App. says that he died
in the tenth year after his resignation of the crowTi ; and this intimation would carry up his life to 953
A.D. The Chron. in the Register of St. Andrews, which is followed by the Chron. Elegiacum, says
that he survived his abdication _/?re years, and here died and was buried. The Chronological Table
will shew how much the ancient Chronicles disagree in the length of the reign of Constantin III,
Some of those writers may have confounded the extent of his reign with the length of his life, while
others seem to have deducted the period of his retirement from the real length of his reign, erroneously
supposing that the latter included the former.
(a) Saxon Chron., 115 ; Flor. Wig., 352.
(h) Saxon Chron., p. 115 ; Fordun, lib. iv., cap. 26.
390 An account [Book 111.— The Scottish Period.
people with their Ccattle (c). The Scottish king meanwhile did not remain
quiet amidst turbulent chiefs. Malcolm marched into Moray to suppress
the insurrections of Cellach, the Maormor, whom he slew in the traitorous
conflict. The men of Moray, iu a subsequent year, marched southward to
revenge the death of their chief; and Malcolm, meeting them in the Mearns,
was slain at Fetteresso by an insidious stroke of doubtful treason (d). Fiction
is studious to tell in modern idiom that the nobles were diligent to discover
the conspirators, and were equally severe in punishing their aggravated
treason (2).
Indulf,
The son of Constantin III., assumed the gory sceptre of the murdered Mal-
colm in 953 A.D. It was in Indulf's reign that the toivn of Edwin, which
had been wasted by /Ethelstan in 934, was at length rehnquished, during the
distractions of Northumberland and the reign of Edwy. In this state of de-
sertion it probably remained till Lothian was formally resigned to the Scottish
king at a subsequent period (a). The vigour of Edgar was such as induced
Indulf probably to respect the power of England ; and Edgar was so power-
(c) Tlie Cliron. No. 3 in Innes's Appendix, states this inroad during tlie seventh year of liis reign.
The Ulster Annals under the year 951, which was the seventh year of Malcolm, speak of war against
the Scots, Welsh, and Saxons by the Gals or Northmen.
(d) The ancient Chronicles differ somewhat in giving an account of the time, place, and circum-
stance of Malcolm's death. The Chron. No. 3 in Innes, says that he was killed by the men of Moerne
in Fodresach. The Chron. No. 5 in Innes, and the Chron. Elegiacum, state that Malcolm was slain
"per dolmn " by the Moravienses in Ulurn, and these two are followed by Fordun, lib. iy., c. 27 ; by
Wyntoun, vol. i., p. 179 ; and by Buchanan, who transfers the scene of this tragedy into Moray. The
men of Moerne had no perceivable motive of enmity against Malcolm, who had iireconcileably
incensed the men of Moray by killing their chief. The Fodresach of the Chron. No. 3 undoubtedly
means Futheressach, the Fetteresso of the present day, a hamlet and parish in the Mearns.
The position of Ulurn, the Chron. No. 5, is not so certain. In a charter of Alexander 11., indeed,
there is a place mentioned by the name of Ulcrn as lying near Burgie in Moray. MS. Charters
in my Coll. ; and Dalrymple's Collections, p. 99. He is said by David Maepherson to have been
killed in a battle at Ulern, near Burgie. Illustrations of the Scot. Hist. But the Chron. No. 5
intimates that he was killed by guile rather than by viagnaniniitij. The per doltivi of the one
chronicon and the in claidam of the other, which in Gaelic signifies a ditch, evince that Malcolm did
not fall in battle. The proper name of this king is Maol-colm, as it is in the Ulster Annals and in
the Gaelic Duan, and it signifies the devotee of Columba. Maol-Brigid is the devotee of Brigid, and
Maol-peder the follower of Peter.
{z) Buchanan, edit. Man, 141. (a) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App.
Ch. VII.— r/ie Scots and Pkts.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 391
ful as to drive the Danish pirates on the Scottish shores. They landed at
Gamrie, in Buchan, with the hope of plunder, but the Maormov of tliat district
gallantly repulsed them (e). Tradition has transmitted both the invasion and
the repulse with circumstances of barbarism, which may even now be traced (/).
Indulf was doomed to sustain a more powerful invasion of those odious plun-
derers, and to support a more bloody conflict. In 961 the Danish rovers
landed within the bay of Cullen, in Banflshire. Indulf hastened to meet them.
A furious action ensued on the moor, which lies westward from Cullen : the
Danes were repulsed to their ships ; but Indulf lost his life, with honour, in the
eagerness of his pursuit. This victory has come down in the traditions of the
people by the name of the Battle of the Bauds (g). Such was the honourable
end of Indulf in 961 a.d., after he had ruled supreme, " aird riaghla," said the
Gaelic Bard, only eight years (h).
DUF,
The son of Malcolm I., hastened to wield the potent sword of Indulf This
short reign was much infested by civil discord. Culen, the son of Indulf, seems
to have been instigated by Doncha, the abbot of Dunkeld, the St. Dunstan of
Scotland, to claim the sceptre of his father, contrary to the constitutional usage.
The competitors met at Druracrub, in Strathearn, the Duncrub of the present
(«) Chron. No. 3, in Innes's App.
(/) The memory of tliis descent and defeat is still preserved in tlie tradition of the country, and
the vestiges of some encampments at the place are still called the Bloodi/ Pots. A church was soon
after erected near the scene of action, into the wall of which several of the skulls of the piratical
North-men were built, and there they still remain. Stat. Acco., v. i., p. 469. A similar instance of
barbarous triumph took place after the defeat of the Danes at Mortlach in 1010.
{g) The Chron. No. 5, in Innes's App., relates that Indulf was slain by the Norwegians
" in Inverculan ; " " ad fluminia ostia Collin," adds the Chronicon Elegiacum ; " prope locam qui
" Collin dicitur," says Fordun, Hearne, p. 328. On the moor at no great distance westward
from Cullen, at the influx of the rivulet Cullen into the Moray frith, which town was of old called
by the Gaelic name of Inver-Culen, there are some large and many small tumuli, which at once
point to the scene of this battle and indicate the numbers of the slain. At a little distance near
Woodside, within Lord Findlater's enclosures, there is upon an eminence a large heap of stones
which is called the King's Cairn, and which tradition attributes to the funeral commemoration of
the intrepid Indulf. Pennant's Tour, 1769, v. i., p. 146 ; Stat. Acco., v. xii., p. 154 ; lb., v. xiii.,
p. 432.
(Ji) See the Chron. Table. Tigernach states the death of Indulf in 961. Ogygia, p. 486. Aber-
crombie's Atchievements states it in 961, v. i., p. 147.
392 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III— r/;e Scottish Period.
day. The conflict was contested by a valorous people, with the usual fury of
civil war. Duf had the good fortune to vindicate, by his victory, the consti-
tutional rule. Doncha, the abbot, and Dubdou, the Maormor of Athol, met the
fate which their rashness merited (i) ; yet this victory seems not to have been
decisive. The friends of the pretender, and the partizans of the abbot, were
stiU powerful enough to drive Duf from Forteviot into the north {k) ; and he
was assassinated on the classic ground of Forres in the year 965, after a
troublous reign of four years and a half (I). The unfortunate son of Malcolm
has been mentioned by a variety of Gaelic names ; and the Gaelic Bard has
applied to him the epithet den, or the brown (m).
CULEN,
The son of Indulf, seemed now to enjoy, without a competitor, the blood-
stained sceptre of Duf The silence of the Gaelic Bard does not prevent the
subsecjuent chroniclers from applying to Culen various epithets which evince
the insignificance of his character, if not the baseness of his heart (n). The
election of Dovenal, the brother of Constantin III., king of the Scots, to be
king of the Strathclyde Britons, as we have seen, produced a long and salutary
peace between those congenerous people. This desix'able tranquility was in-
terrupted, and the two nations plunged in bloody warfare by the baseness of
Culen. The Scottish king was prompted by his temperament to violate the
chastity of the daughter of Andarch, the king of Strathclyde, the son of
Dovenal. The Britons, enfeebled as they were, snatched their arms to avenge
the wrong of their prince. They were met in Lothian by the Scots, who
seem not to have passed the Forth with alacrity in such a cause. Culen
(i) Chron. No. 3 in Innes ; the Ulster Annals place this battle in 964 a.d.
(k) Chron. No. 3 in Innes.
(J) The Chron. No. 5 in Innes ; Chron. Elegiacum ; Annals of Ulster ; and see the Chron.
Table.
(ill) Innes's App., No. 1. The Annals of Ulster denominate him Duhh, which is the proper Gaelic
name. The Gaelic Bard and O'Flaherty speak of him by the same name, adding the epithet Oda.
In the ancient Chronicles, No. 4, 5, and 6 in Innes's App., and in the Chron. Elegiacum, he is
called Duf and Duff ; the Chron. No. 3 in Innes calls him Niger, which is a Latin translation of
the Gaehc Duhh.
(?i) The Chrouioon Elegiacum calls him vir insipiens ; Cuileaii in the Gaelic means a whelp, a,ni
hence the Chron. No 3 in Innes calls him Caniculus.
Ch. YLl—The Scots and Picts.'] OrNORTH-BRITAIN. 393
and his brother Eocha were slain by the valorous Britons in the field (o).
Thus perished the unworthy Culen, after a disgi-aceful reign of four years and
a half, in 970 a.d. (p). The story of Culen, however, as it is told by Bu-
chanan, is a continued fiction, which is as disgraceful to the writer as it is
destructive of truth (q).
Kenneth III.,
The brother of Duf, and the son of Malcolm I., assumed the contaminated
sceptre with the dishonoured sword of Culen in 970 a.d. The English
historians have supposed that he wished to offer his duty to Edgar, who arro-
gated the pre-eminence of king of G reat Britain, and that he was conducted
in 971 to the English king, who gave him many presents («). Kenneth cer-
tainly renewed hostilities with the Britons of Strathclyde rather with ambitious
views of conquest than to revenge the merited fate of his predecessor, who
was of a rival family. The enfeebled Britons made a gallant struggle for their
independence ; but the superior power of the Scots prevailed. Kenneth, after
various success, ultimately gained the important object of his ambition in an-
nexing the kingdom of Strathclyde to the territories of the Scottish kings (r).
(o) Ckron. No. 3 in Innes ; Cliion. No. 5 in Innes ; Chron. Elegiacum. Tigernach places this event
in 971. Ogygia, 487. The Ulster Annals record this battle and the fate of Culen in 970.
(p) See the Chron. Table.
(q) Man's ed., p. 142-46. How much more dignified is the reserve of Fordun, as we see it in
Hearne's edition, v. i., p. 330, than the amplification of Buchanan. During this reign, says Fordun,
which was equally unfit and remiss, nothing either kingly or worthy of recollection is to be
recorded.
(n) Kenneth III. is said by M. of Westminster, p. 375, to have been conducted to Edgar in
975 by iElfsig the bishop, and Eadulf the earl. The historian of Durham adopts this story without
much examination. Hutchinson's Durham, v. i., p. 75. If, indeed, we could allow to be genuine
a paper which is published by Dugdale in the Monasticon, v. i., p. 17, as one of the title-deeds
of the monastery of Glastonbury, we must admit that Kenneth did visit Edgar in 971 ; for Kenneth
is made to witness the charter of Edgar thus: "Ego Kinadius rex Albaniae adquievi." But this
pretended charter is very suspicious. Its style is too declamator}' ; its date is too minute ; and
Oswald, the bishop of York, is made to sign it as a witness in 971, though he came not to that see
tiU 972.
(r) Colbertin Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App., which is more accurately printed from the original in
the Enquiry Hist. Scot., 1789, v. i., p. 495. It is, however, unfitly interpolated by the editor as a
continuation of the Chronicon Pictorum, which in fact ends with Bred, the last Pictish king. lb., p.
492-95, for the continued interpolation. Dunwallon, the last king of Strathclyde, as he was driven
from his throne, retired to Eome, where he took the cowl and died. Welsh Chron. of the Saxons, and
Caradoc in the Welsh ArchaioL, v. ii., p. 489-494.
Vol. I. 3 E
394 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— ?7,6- Scottish Period.
He is, however, said to have now fortified the fords of the Forth {s). It was
in 973 that Kenneth III. was required by Edgar to perform the terms on
which he enjoyed the Enghsh province. From Cumberland he sent a detach-
ment to harrass the Danish settlements as far as Stanmore. He marched him-
self through Lothian and penetrated into Deira. According to the odious
practice of a ferocious age he spoiled the country and carried off the son of
the Northumbrian ruler (i). In this manner did Kenneth perform the duty
which he owed to Edgar (u) ! As far indeed as the stipulations of the several
kings were unequal, they admitted themselves to be inferior to Edgar. Kenneth
had alone to defend his kingdom from the incursions of the northern invaders.
Nothing could prevent their pii'acies but the wise policy which was prescribed
by Edgar for his own interest. The vigour of Kernieth's government could
not hinder a dangerous invasion of his country towards the end of his guilty
reio-n. After making partial attacks on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, the
Danes sailed into the Tay with a numerous fleet. Their object appears to have
been the plunder of Forteviot or Dunkeld. They were met, meanwhile, by
Kenneth, with such chiefs as he could hastily bring into the field, at Luncarty
in the vicinity of Perth, on the southern side of the Tay, at a small distance
from Inveralmond. Both parties prepared for a decisive day. Malcolm, the
Tanist, and prince of Cumberland, commanded the right wing of the Scottish
army ; Duncan, the Maormor of Athol, conducted the left ; and Kenneth
placed himself in the centre. After awhile a furious conflict began. They
fought long with all the fury of single combat ; the one side for safety, the
(.<) Chron. No. 3 in Innes's App., p. 788.
{t) Chron. No. 3 in Innes ; in Enquiry, 1789, v. i., App. 495 ; and the Sax. Chron., p. 122.
(m) Malmesbury, Hoveden, and Huntingdon concur to relate a story of Edgar, which is un-
worthy of the manly character of that King. Being at Chester, they say that he commanded him-
self to be rowed on the wizard Dee by eight reguli, including Kenneth. Strange that those
intelligent monks would depart from the simple story which is told by the Saxon Chronicle, that
being at Chester, there came to Edgar six kings, who entered into a treaty with him that they
would be his co-operators in futm-e by sea and land. See Gibson, p. 122. Florence concurs
with this statement, only enlarging the number of kings to eiijht, and making Kenneth III. and
Malcolm "rex C'umliroriini." two of those kings. He makes all those sovereigns whom he enume-
rates swear that they would co-operate by sea and land with Edgar. If we could suppose,
what is not far from the truth, that the king of England, after making his fleet circumnavigate
the northern parts of Britam, had adopted the wise policy of inducing the several kings of om-
island, whether dependent or independent, to co-operate in the common defence against the Danes,
this enlarged wisdom would raise his character superior to the just fame of .Alfred. But the
story of his being rowed on the Dee by kings would only degrade a great policy into the grossest
frivolousness.
Ch. Nil.— The Scots ami Picts.'] 0 f N 0 E T H - B R I T xV I N . 395
other for a kingdom. The two wings of the Scottish army gave way to the
Danish battle-axes. They rallied behind the centre, they renewed the fight
on stronger ground, and the Danes in their turn were finally comjielled to
yield to the Scottish spears {x). The piratical intruders were now involved in
the distress and danger wherein they delighted. Kenneth after this cele-
brated victory found leisure and safety to execute his domestic projects.
He certainly adopted the dangerous design of changing the ancient custom
which regulated the descent of the crown. In the execution of his purpose he
probably procured the untimely death of Malcolm, the son of Duf, the Tanist
of the kingdom, and the prince of Cumberland. Malcolm, the son of Duf,
certainly never occupied the throne : to those projects and to that death may
be traced up much civil conflict and many obvious crimes (y). Such a law may
have been proposed by Kenneth ; and such a law may have been passed on
the Moot-hill of Scone ; but the fact is, that two other princes were preferred
to the diadem before his son Malcolm could moimt the throne. Kenneth III.
seems not to have borne his faculties with much meekness. While he sup-
pressed an insurrection in the Mearns, which was not remarkable for habits of
quiet, he put to death the only son of Finella, the wife of the Maormor of
the Mearns, and the daughter of Cunechat the Maormor of Angus {z). Finella's
son appears to have fallen by a stroke of justice, but Finella's revenge was
implacable and restless for its gratification. Kenneth, either in pursuit of the
chase or in pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Paddy at Fordun, was induced to
lodge in the castle of the revengeful Finella near Fettercairn. This artful
woman was at no loss for the means to obtain her long-looked for end. She
fled, but justice found her retreat and punished her crime («). Tigernaeh
(.£■) Tlie narrative of the battle of Luucarty is so artless and so circumstantial as given in Bellen-
den's Boece, tliat there is nothing superior to it for simplicity and minuteness in Lord Berner's
Froissart. Tradition has transmitted most of those circumstances, and the existing tumuli show with
sufficient distinctness the true site of this memorable conflict. Many of those tumuli have been
levelled of late, and have disclosed many human bones, with broken swords, spears, and bridles. See
Gordon's Itin. Septent., p. 150 ; Pennant's Tour, vol. ii., p. 71-2 ; Stat. Aoco., v. sv., p. 525-7. Tra-
dition has also transmitted what Scottish history has assumed as her own, the story of the peasant
Hay, who, with his two sons and the yokes of his oxen, rallied the flying Scots and regained the des-
perate battle. I believe the whole story is an egregious fable. I suspect the surname of Hay did not
exist in that age, and the family of Hay came into Scotland during the twelfth centurj'. I conjecture
that such yokes of oxen were not then in use.
(»/) Tigernaeh has recorded the death of the son of Indnlf by Kenneth in 977. Ogygia, 487.
{z) Chron. No. 5 in Innes.
{a) Finella's odious name has long been remembered in the Mearns. An ancient ruin in the
3E2
396 An ACCOUNT [Booklll.— The Scottish Period.
has recorded the assassination of Kenneth (b). This kmg's piety or remorse
ajjpears to have given Brechin to the church (c). By his hberahty to the clergy
the guilty king may have endeavoured to allay the perpetual torments of a mind
which was conscious of terrible crimes. His death happened in 994 a.d. after
an active, able, and guilty reign of four-and-twenty years (d).
CONSTANTIN IV.,
The son of the worthless Culen, assumed the tarnished sceptre of Ken-
neth III. His reign was short and unquiet. His pretensions even to such a
sceptre seem to have been disputed by Kenneth the Grim, the son of Duf
A conflict ensued between the pretenders to a wretched government, near the
river Almond in Perthshire (e) ; and Constantin, who is mentioned by the
Gaelic Bai'd with the epithet cluin or deceitful, closed his inglorious days
within the Jiath of Inver- Almond in 995 a.d. {/).
Kenneth IV.,
The son of Duf, who was sirnamed Grim, from the strength of his body
rather than tlie force of his character, immediately seized the gory sceptre of
parish of Fettercairn is still called Finellas Castle. Stat. Acco., vol. v., p. 334. In Fordun
parish there is a place called Strath-Finella-Hill. Garden's Map of the Mearns ; and many sup-
pose that the neighboui'ing Castle of Kincardine was also Finella's residence. Stat. Acco., vol. iv.,
p. 498-9. The parish of Ecolesgreig [St. Cyras], within the same shire, claims the honour of her
punishment. Here they show Den-Fenel or Den-Fenella, to which she is said to have fled from her
Castle of Kincardine, in which she was discovered, and whence she was carried to her merited end.
Stat. Acco., V. xi., p. 9.5.
(6) Ogygia, 487 ; and the Ulster Annals state the same event under the year 994, and the Chron.
Elegiacum concurs in the time, the place, and circumstance of Kenneth's violent death.
(c) Chron. No. 3 in Innes. (d) See the Chron. Table.
(e) Fordun mistakingly supposes this event to have happened on the Almond-water in Lothian, lib.
iv., c. xxxvii.
(/) The Chron. Elegiacum applies to Constantin the epithet calvus, which coiTesponds nearly with
the Gaelic cluin. The Chron. No. 5 in Innes states that Constantin was slain in Eathveramoen.
This place is plainly the Eath Inver-Almond, where, as we have already seen, Donal MaeAlpin ended
his days, and which had continued to be a strength of one branch of the royal family from the age of
Kenneth MaeAlpin. Tigernach attributes the death of Constantin to a sad stroke of civil conflict,
but he erroneously places the event in 997 instead of 995. Ogygia, 487. The authorities all agree
nearly in the length of the reign of Constantin, except the Gaelic Bard, who extends it mistakingly to
seven years. See the Chron. Table.
Ch. TH.—The Scots and Picts.'] OfNOETH-BRITAIN. 397
Constantin (g). But what he had thus gained by violence he did not long en-
joy in peace. In 1000 a.d., ^thelred, the king of England, almost depopu-
lated Cumherland, on whatever pretence, while his fleet attempted to circumna-
vigate North-Britain (k). Malcolm, the son of Kenneth III., who was then
presumptive heir of the Scottish crown, had already been declared the regulus
of Cumberland. As he refused an unjust demand, he was driven from his
charge by a power that he could not resist. Peace was, however, restored on
the original terms of common defence ; and Malcolm was left free to intrigue
for the crown which his father had untimely endeavoured to settle on him by
so many crimes. In a barbarous age and among such a people it was easy to
animate pretensions into commotion. The partizans of the two princes flew to
arms when the dread of ^thelred was withdrawn. A bloody conflict ensued
at Moiyhavaird of the chronicle, the Ach-na-hard of Fordun (i). Grim fought
the whole field with the vigour of his nature and the valour of his family.
He at length received a mortal gash ; but he had no father to inquire, like
Siward, "if he had his hurts before?" The death wound of Grim decided
the fortune of the day with the fate of the kingdom. Thus honourably
died Kenneth IV., the gallant son of Duf, after an unfortunate reign of eight
years (k).
(g) "Grim is a common Danisla name," says the Enquirer, 1789, systematically, v. ii., p. 189;
but Grim in tlie Gaelic signifies war, battle. O'Brien, and Shaw. Grym in the British means force,
energy, power, strength. Owen's Diet. Buchanan, indeed, talks as if he had seen the king, of the
tallness of Grim's stature, of his beauty, of his courtesy ! Man's ed., 155.
(/i) Sax. Chron., 130 ; Florence Wig., 3G9 ; Sim. Dunelm, 164 ; but none of these add a single
circumstance to explain the cause of this imneighbourly irruption into Cumberland. Fordun supplies
that defect of explanation. Lib. iv., ch. xxxviii. ^thelred demanded Dane-gelt of the Cumbrians,
which Malcolm, the regulus, refused.
(!) Chron. No. 5 in Innes ; the Chron. Elegiacum ; Fordun, 1. iv., ch. xli. The Ulster Annals state,
under the year 1004, mistakenly a battle between the Soots at Monedir, where KinaocJt MacDuhh was
slain. The proper Gaelic name, Moigh-a-bhaird, signifies the plain of the Bard. The appellation of
this ever-to-be-remembered place is now corrupted into Monivaird, the name of a church and parish in
the upper part of Stratheam. " Some miles to the northward of the church, " says the minister of
Monivaird, ■' there is a very large barrow called Cairn clminichin, the Cairn of Kenneth.'' Stat. Acco.,
V. viii., p. 576. Thus the intimations of the Chronicles and the tradition of the country concur with
the monumental Cairn to ascertain the true site of this important battle. Chronology fixes the un-
doubted epoch of it in 1003 a.d.
{Ic) See the Chron. Table. Kenneth IV. left behind him a son, Boidhe, who was the father of the
celebrated Gruoch, Lady Macbeth; and also of a son who was killed by Malcolm II. in 1032. Eegr.
of St. Andrews; Annals of Ulster. Kenneth IV. had the merit of giving an hospitable reception to
Sueno, the king of Denmark's son, when he was driven from his countrj- on account of his religious
398 A N A C C 0 U N T Book UI.—T/w Scottish Period.
Malcolm IL,
The son of Kenneth III., in this manner plunged through blood to seize the
sceptre and the sword of the valorous son of Duf in 1003 a.d. (/). Of the
reign and fortune of Malcolm, the Gaelic Bard has said :
'■ Troclia bliadhain hreacaid rainn : "
Thirty years of variegated reign.
" Ba rigli manaidh Maolcholaim : "
Was king hy fate Malcolm.
From the ancient chroniclers he obtained the epithet victoriosissiimis, though
they did not explain the means by which he had merited this honourable dis-
tinction (m). He appears, indeed, to have deserved the praise of turning into
distant channels the devastations of the Danes, who then deluged England with
blood. Though the government of Denmark, Sweden, and of Norway, had
DOW acquired firmer consistence and better morals, the vikingr continued to
roam through the northern seas in quest of plunder from every shore. The
eastern coasts of Scotland were particularly infested by their piracies. They
even seized, during this reign, the burgh-head of Moray, the Ptoroton of
Ptolomy, if we may believe the obscure annals of Ireland, instructive tradition,
and obvious remains. Here the vikingr found what they greatly wanted, a
commodious harbour and impregnable retreat. Earl Uchtred of Northumber-
land meantime invaded Cumbria ; but he was sharply encountered by the
Scots near Burgh-upon-sands, though with doubtful success (n). It was in
the north, near the coasts of the Moray Frith, that the Norwegians collected
plunder from a wide extent of country. Sigurd, the Earl of Orkney, carried
on his depredations along the shores of this frith in the end of the tenth and
beginning of the eleventh centuiy. Even after he married the daughter of
Malcolm, he was not restrained by this connection from continuing his ac-
innovations. The Scottisli -writers dwell on this praiseworthy incident. Buchanan's ed. Man, p. 15G.
But Messenius places the same incident in his abridged Chron. of Scondla about the year 994 ; and in
his Scondia lllustrata he speaks of Sueno as still living in Scotland and aided by the Scottish king in
997 A.D. Messenius's Scondia Illustrata, t. ii., p. 31.
(/) Chron. in the Eeg. of St. Andrews : Chron. Elegiacum. Both the date of the accession and the
filiation of Malcolm II. are stated mistakenly in Enquiry Hist. Scot., 1789, v. ii., p. 189.
(m) Chron. No. 5 in Innes.
(n) The Ulster Annals, under the year 100.5, speak of a battle between the Scots and Saxons, in
■which the Scots were defeated ; and see Fordun, lib. iv., eh. ssxis., who claims the victory for
the Scots.
Ch. VII.— r/ie Scots and Pivts.] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 399
customed depredations (0). A vikingr felt no emotions of delicacy ; friends
and foes were equally the objects of his plunder. The Danes having made a
descent into Moray, were met in 1010 a.d. by Malcolm II. at Mortlach.
A fierce conflict ensued ; and the northmen, after defending themselves with
their usual obstinacy of valour, were obliged to yield the bloody field to
the numbers and bravery of the Scots (j)). This year was as unfortunate for
England as it was happy for North-Britain. The great infelicity of the
southern parts of our island at that period arose from the mixed nature of the
people, which was the natural effect of the wrong policy of Alfred, who con-
ceded the settlement of the Danes to his necessities. But the Scots had
hitherto I'emained uncontaminated in their blood and uncorrupted in their spirit.
They had never allowed the odious Danes to gain a permanent footing within
their country. Malcolm, in gratitude for his recent victory, soon after endowed
a religious house at Mortlach, with its appropriate church, which was erected
near the scene of the bloody conflict (q). The piety of Malcolm was approved
by the confirmation of Benedict, who ruled the universal church from 1012
to 1024 A.D. (r). Tradition and remains confirm the intimations of Fordun ;
(o) Gunnlauglii-Sagan. Hafn., 1775, p. 169 ; and Torfseus's Oroades. The Enquirer into the
Hist. Scot., 1789, V. ii., p. 190, says that no incursions were then made from Orkney, because
Sigurd was in strict amity with Malcolm II. ; but general reasoning must give way to special
facts. The Gunnlaughi-Sagan, a contemporary writer, is positive upon the point, because he knew
the fact.
(^) The minister of Mortlach appears to have investigated the local evidence of this conflict
with appropriate attention. He states (1.) There still remain the vestiges of an entrenchment on
the summit of little Conval hill, which is called by the people the Danisli Camp ; (2.) There are a
number of tumuli, which are supposed to have been raised over the bodies of the fallen ; (3.) There
is still a huge stone which is said to have been placed over the grave of a Danish chief ; (4.) There
is now to be seen a standing stone on the glebe, having on two of its sides some rude sculpture ; (5.)
Human bones, broken sabres, and other military armour have been discovered, and in ploughing the
glebe about .50 years ago a chain of gold was turned up, which looked like the ornament of one
of the chiefs ; and (6.) Several skulls of the Danes were built, according to the practice of a
savage age, into the walls of the church, which was soon after the conflict erected on its site, and
in the same walls they remained till recent times ; Slat. Acco., v. xvii., p. 444. We have al-
ready seen a similar instance of this barbarous practice on the defeat of the Danes at G-amrie in the
reign of Indulf.
(5) Fordun is the first wi'iter who mentions the establishment of a bishopric at Mortlach by
Malcolm, in pursuance of his vow at the commencement of the battle. Lib. iv., ch. xl. But with
some facts Fordun has mingled some fictions. It was not the practice of the age of Malcolm in Scot-
land to erect hishoprics. The usage was to endow a religious house wherein a bishop resided and
whence he performed his functions.
(r) Id. ; the reference to Pope Benedict shows the date of the endowment.
400 A N A C C 0 U N T Book III.— [The Scottish Period.
and record carries up those traditional intimations to historical certainty, what-
ever may have been opposed by the objections of ignorance or by the doubts
of scepticism (s).
The hostile descents of the Danes were not, however, confined to the Moray
Frith in that enterprizing age. The coasts of Angus and the shores of Buchan
equally felt the scourge of their hostilities and shai'ed in the glory of their
defeats. At Aberlemno, which is so celebrated for its sculptured pillars of
obscure memorial, the Danes were encountered and repulsed. Tradition and
remains transmit the event, and ascertain the locality where a bi'ave people re-
pelled the desultory foe (t). Sueno, heaiii^g of so many defeats of Ins congenial
people, is said to have sent against North-Britain a fresh body of warriors under
the valiant Camus. Landing on the coast of Angus near to Panbride, Camus
had only penetrated a few miles into the country when he was boldly encoun-
tered and bravely defeated by the Scots. He attempted to retreat northward,
but he was closely pursued and fortunately slain, whei'e a monumental stone,
called Camus-Cross, continues to mark the sad scene of his overthrow. Time,
the great revealer of secrets, has at length disclosed the manner of his death.
As the conflict was hand to hand, the skull of Camus was cleft by the deadly
blow of a battle-axe (w).
(s) Owing to the destruction of the earliest charters of the diocese of Aberdon and the fabrica-
tion of other documents instead of the lost chartulary, the first charter, which is free from suspicion,
is the bull of Pope Adrian IV. to Edward, the bishop, in 1159, whereby the Pope confinned to
the bishop, " Villam, et monasterium de Murthlach, cum quinque ecolesiis et terns eisdem per-
" tinentibus." Chart., p. 329. The monastery of Cloveth, which was a cell of Mortlach, was also
confirmed by the same bull. Those churches and those monasteries were undoubtedly granted
to the bishop of Aberdon by a charter of David I., which does not now exist. The Taxatio of the
thirteenth century and Bagimont's Eoll, 1275, confii'm the bull of Adrian, by shewing that those
churches of Mortlach and Cloveth did at those several dates belong to the bishopric of Aberdon.
Bein, who was the first bishop of Mortlach, has obtained a place in the Scottish Calendars on the
26th of October. Keith, 233. His effigy, which was cut in stone, formerly stood in the wall of the
church of Mortlach, with other singular monuments of those savage times. lb., p. GO ; Orem's Aber-
deen, p. XXXV.
(?) Gordon's Itin. Sept., p. 151, says there were in his time five ancient obelisks, which were
called " The Danish Stones of Aberlemny." Pennant's Tour, v. ii., p. 166. The minister of that
parish adds that in the neighbourhood of those obelisks a few tumuli have been opened, wherein
were found rude stone coffins containing black earth and mouldering bones. Stat. Acco., vol. iv.,
p. 50.
(») Buchanan edit. Man. 147. Gordon's Itin. Sept., p. 154. There is in this neighbourhood
an ancient entrenchment which, though it were originally a part of the Eoman camp at Kaer-
buddo, is called by the people Norivaij Dikes. Near Camus Cross a plough laid open a sepulchre,
which was enclosed with four stones. Here a huge skeleton was dug up, which was supposed to
Ch. Yll.—The Scoti and Picts.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 401
But the Danes were not to be discouraged by defeat nor to be restrained by
fear. They again landed on the coast of Buchan, about a mile west from
Slains Castle, in the parish of Cruden. Here those persevering pirates were
attacked and overthrown by the Maormor of the district. The certainty of
the conflict and the site of the engagement are ascertained by undoubted re-
mains of the mournful scene (x).
So many repulses contributed, with the fortune of Malcolm and the events
of the times, to free Scotland fx-om the horrible devastations of the Danish
vikingr. The Danes had made good their settlements in Normandy ; they had
well nigh established themselves in England ; they were overpowered by Brian
Boromhe in Ireland ; and their attempts on Scotland were all, meantune, re-
pelled by the vigour of Malcolm. The evacuation of the Burgh-head of
Moray by the Danes, and their final retreat before the brave people who had
given them so many i-epulses, seems to have been at length obtained by some
convention with Sueno before his death in 1014 a.d. National tradition
and the memorial-stone may seem to willing antiquaries to carry up this ra-
tional probability to historical truth (?/). The Scots after so many conflicts for
have been tlie body of Camus ; he appears to have received the mortal stroke upon his head, as a
part of the skull was cvit away. This is the account of Commissary Maule, who relates what he
saw about the year 1610. Add to this a few other circumstances : a little more than two miles
west from Panbride there is in the parish of Monikie a farmstead named Camus-ton, another
near it is called Camuston-Cross, there is a third place which is known by the appropriate name
of Camunton-Den. Ainslie's Map of Forfar. Tradition connects all those notices with the reign
of Malcolm II., with the several intrusions of the Danish rovers, and with their ultimate fortunes.
Sueno tried to conquer Scotland, says an impartial Frenchman ; his generals sustained several com-
bats wherein they were sometimes the vanquishers and sometimes the vanquished. But the intre-
pidity of Malcolm at length obliged Sueno to come to a convention. Lacombe's Ab. Chron. de I'His-
toire du Nord., v. i., p. 74.
(a:) Gordon, in Itin. Septen., p. 155, says that at Cruden even now bones of a large size are
frequently turned up. The minister of Cruden confirms this fact. Stat. Acco., vol. v., p. 431. He
adds that the different places where the dead were buried do yet strongly mark the field of battle,
where the blowing of sand frequently discovers human bones in several places, and here a chapel was
erected, which was dedicated to St. Olaus, but the site of it cannot now be traced, as the ground is
overblown with sand.
(y) See the fine obelisk at Fon'es, which is so celebrated for its elegance in Gordon's Itin. Sept.,
pi. 56 ; and better representations of it in Shaw's Moray, p. 209, and Cordiner's Antiq., p. 54. By
the traditional language of the country this memorial stone " is still called Kiny Siicnu's Stone.''
Gordon's Itin. Sept., p. 159 ; Shaw's Moray, p. 209 ; and Pennant's Tour, vol. i., p. 149. Stat.
Acco., V. xvi., p. .346. Yet scepticism doubts whether there be any ground for the wars of Mal-
colm with the Danes. Enquiry Hist. Scot., 1789, v. ii., p. 190. " In short," adds the same En-
quirer in the subsequent page, " thei'e is not the shadow of authority for those Danish wars of
" Malcolm II." Popular tradition with well-vouched remains are historical documents of sufiicient
authority for narrative facts. Who would doubt whether Grim, the son of Duf, was vanquished and
slain at Monivaird ?
Vol. I. 3 F
402 AnACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
some years enjoyed peace, the result of their struggles and tlie reward of their
valoui". A dispute with the Northumhrians, who were connected by lineage
and habits witli the Danes, again called forth their action and tried their
bravery. In 1018 Malcolm conducted his warriors to Caiham near Werk
on the southern bank of the Tweed, and here he was met in hostile conflict
by Uchtred the Earl of Northumberland. The battle was long contested with
desperate valour. The palm of victory was claimed by Uchtred ; but Malcohn
enjoyed the perennial fruits of his success (2). Uchtred was soon after assassin-
ated on his way to ofter his duty to the great Canute, and his earldom de-
scended to his brother, the less valiant Eadulf. The wounds of Carham were
still felt, the swords of the Scots were still feared in Northumberland, and
Eadulf was induced, in consideration of a firm concord, to cede Lothian for
ever to Malcolm (a). This event alone entitled Malcolm to the epithet of vic-
toriosissitnus as a just tribute from his country for so important an acquisition.
On that occasion the king of Scots, Avho is by gratitude praised for his libe-
rality, gave many oblations to the churches and gifts to the clergy, who re-
corded his victory and transmitted his fame (6).
Malcolm was afterwards engaged with an antagonist of greater consequence
than either Eadulf or Uchtred. Owing to some cause, which history has not
explained, the great Canute penetrated into Scotland durmg the year 1031,
After obtaining from Malcolm an engagement to perform what he owed for
Cumberland, Canute returned into England ; and Malcolm certainly retained
both Cumberland and . Lothian whatever prejudice may say of his sub-
duction (c).
(c) Chi-on. No. 4 in Innes, p. 791 ; Simeon Dun., p. 177 ; Chron. of Melrose, p. 165.
(a) Sim. Dun., p. 81 : '• Hoc mode Lodoneium adjectum est regno Scottorum." The fact is thus
distinctly stated by Simeon, who had an opportunit}' of knowinsf the truth. Dugdale equally shows
that Eadulf transferred Z/(y(/</(m» to the Scots, '• by which means," he adds, " that territory came at
first to be a member of Scotland." Baronage, v. i.. p. iv.
(b) Ohron. No. 4 in lunes, 791 : the Chron. in the Eegister of St. Andrews called him in grateful
recollection rex victorinsissiiiiiis.
(c) The Sax. Chron., p. 153, says Canute went into Scotland and subdued Malcolm, the king of
Scots, with two other kings, Moelbeth and Jekmare. Neither Florence nor Simeon adopt this passage ;
Huntingdon, however, copies it uncritically. Snorro and the other fablers of the north talk wildly of
the subduement of Scotland and the appointment of a viceroy by Canute. Fordun explains this trans-
action with sufftcient distinctness, but with too much attention to the notions of his own times. Hist.,
lib. iv., oh. xli. The English king had no other pretension to Cumberland nor any other claim on the
Scottish king than amity and aid in the north ; but there was nothing of feudality in the connection or
contract. When Malcolm therefore promised his amity and his aid in Northumberland to Canute, he
had stipulated for all that he owed.
Cli. VII— r^f Scots and Pkts.'] 0 f N 0 R T H - B E I T A I N. 40S
Yet the vigorous reign of Malcolm II. could not pass away, without some
civil conflicts among such a people, and during such an age. Finlegh, the
Maormor of Ross, and the father of Macbeth, fell a sacrifice to the demon of
enmity in 1020 ((/). Revenge never sheathed her dagger, though she long
concealed it, till she avenged the fall of Finlegh. Maolbride, the Maormor of
Moray, the grandfather of Lulach, was burnt within his rath, with fifty of
his clan, during the year 1032 (e). These events covered the royal family with
blood, and steeped Scotland in wretchedness. Yet the aged Malcolm died in
the subsequent year, without feeling the point of the dirk or the poison of the
bowl, though revenge stood panting for her prey (z).
Malcolm II. appears to have had no son, but two daughters, by whatever
queen. Bethoc or Beatrice, undoubtedly married Crinan, the abbot of Dun-
keld, a character of great consequence in that age {a). A daughter of Malcolm
II. married Sigurd, the Earl Orkney (6).
As a legislator, Malcolm is entitled to less commendation than fiction has
bestowed. The leges Malcolmi, which exhibit an anachronism in every para-
graph, have been shown to be spurious by all the modes of proof that have
ever detected forgery (a). The legislative fictions which have been applied to
(rf) The Ulster Annals, speaking of that bloody event, calls Finlegh king of Scotland mistakenly.
The Irish tei-ms for a king, as Righ, Triatli, Flath, also signify a lord, a chief, a rider : now Finlegh
was ruler of Boss.
(e) Ulster Annals.
(^) The Ohron. No. 5 in Innes, p. 803 ; the Chron. Elegiaoum ; the Chronicle of Melrose, concur
with the Irish Annals in saying that Malcolm died quietly at Glamis. Fordun was perhaps the first
who said that the aged king died a violent death. Hist., lib. iv., c. xli. There is still shown in the
churchyard of Glamis "king Malcolm's gravestone," which is a rude mass, without an inscription, six-
teen feet high and five broad, and which was erected there, say the Tourists, "in memory of his
"murder." Gordon's Itin., p. 162-3; Pennant's Tour, v. i., p. 170. Stat. Acco., v. iii., p. 126.
Malcolm II. was entombed with his fathers in lona.
(a) Chron. Elegiacum ; Chi'on. in the Register of St. Andi'ews.
(i) Snorro states the fact very circumstantially. T. i., p. 532-3 ; the Orkneyinga Saga confirms it,
p. .5 and 87 ; and Torfseus in his Orcades, p. 33, adds this additional circumstance, that the daughter
of Malcolm was Sigurd's second wife. By him she had a son Thorfin. who was an infant at his
father's death in the battle of Clontarf in 1014 a.d. Malcolm 11. immediately carried into effect the
destination of Sigurd, by putting his grandson Thorfin, who lived at his court, in possession of Caith-
ness and Sutherland. Thorfin afterwards acted as conspicuous a part as any vikringr of his age.
Orkneyinga Saga throughout ; Torfseus Orcades.
(a) Lord Karnes's Essays on British Antiq., 3rd ed., p. 6-11. He is yet willing to allow this obvious
fabrication to have been the undoubted code of Malcolm-Ceanmore. On the contrary, Lord Hailes has
proved "that the Lege.i Jfalcolini bear the certain marks of forgery." Enquiry into the authenticity of
the Leges Malcolmi, 1769.
3 F 2
404 AnACCOUNT [Book III— r/(e Scottish Period.
Malcolm 11., sometimes with censure and often with praise, were originally
raised by Fordun, afterwards legitimized by Skene (6), and finally exploded by
the late Lord Hailes.
Duncan,
The grandson of Malcolm II., by his daughter Bethoc, as tanist of the kingdom
and prince of Cumberland, immediately succeeded the aged king in 1033 a.d.
It fell to the lot of Duncan to perform the stipulations of his grandfather with
Canute ; and he marched through Northumberland in 1035, and attacked
Durham, whence he was repulsed with the loss both of men and reputation,
if we credit the English historian (c). Canute died on the 12th of November,
in the same year ; and Scotland was left during the five subsequent years of
Duncan's reign, to enjoy quiet, and to engender mischief Fiction represents
this short period, indeed, as disturbed by some rebellion, and as afflicted by
some depredations of the Danes (d). We may easily suppose, indeed, that
Sigurd's sons, the earls of Orkney, may have tried their young pinions as
eaglet vikingr ; and soared for prey along the shores of the MSray frith, while
the maormor of that district was yet an infant (e). The time was now at hand
when the "gracious Duncan," while his "plenteous joys wantoned in fuU-
" ness," was to expiate by his blood, his grandfather's guilt and his great-
grandfather's crimes. Kenneth III., as we have seen, attempted to change the
old mode of succession, by the murder of princes who stood before his son.
He put to death, on whatever pretence, the only son of Finella, who was the
daughter of Cunechat, the maormor of Angus ; and Kenneth fell a sacrifice
to a mother's vengeance, as we may remember, in 994 A.D. Kenneth IV.,
while reigning lawfully, was slain in 1003 A.D., as we have perceived, by
Malcolm II. at the battle of Monivaird. Kenneth IV. left a son, Boedhcj the
{b) Ford, 1. iv., c. xliii ; Skene's Old Laws ; Lord Hailes's Tract, 17C9.
(c) Simeon Dun., p. 33. But the Saxon Chronicle and Florence are both silent as to this irruption
of Duncan.
(<l ) The rebellion of Macdonald from the western isles, as feigned by Shakespeare, is mere fable. The
old historians may have confounded, indeed, the rebellion of Gilcomgain, the maormor of Moray, in
1033, with the rebellion of Macdonald during the reign of Duncan. In the same manner there was no
invasion of Fife by •• Sueno, the Norway's king," at that period. Shakespeare and Holinshed were
misled by the Scottish historians, who confounded times and personages. " The Norweyan banners
may have flouted the sky in Fife " during the preceding reign.
(e) See Torfeeus Orcades, ch. xiii. ; Orkneyinga Saga, p. 41 to 87.
Ch. VII.— T/,e Scots and Picis]. OpNOETH-BEITAIN. 405
the heir of his rights, and the successor to his wrongs. Seeing how unable he
was to contend with the slayer of his father, he seems to have provided for his
safety by his insignificance ; and he left a son and a daughter to enjoy his
pretensions, and to avenge his injuries. His son, however, was slain in 1033,
by one of the last orders of the aged Malcolm. His daughter was the Lady
Gruoch, who married for her first husband, Gilcomgain, the maormor of
Moray, a person of the first consequence next to the royal family ; and for
her second husband, she married the never-to-be-forgotten Macbeth. The
Lady Gruoch, with great strength of character, had the most afflictive injuries
constanth^ rankling at her heart — a grandfather dethroned and slain, a brother
assassinated, and her husband burnt within his castle, with fifty of his friends ;
herself a fugitive, with Lulach her infant son. Such were the injuries which
prompted the Lady Gruoch's vengeful thoughts, and " which filled her from
" the crown to the toe, topful of direst cruelty." Amidst her misfortunes she
married Macbeth, the maormor of Ross, who was then in the prime of life,
and who was of still greater power than her first husband ; for after his
marriage with this injured woman, he became maormor of Moray during the
infancy of Lulach. If Macbeth was mdeed, as we are assured by Boece and
Buchanan and Lesley, the son of Doada, a daughter of Malcolm H., he might
well enter into competition with Duncan for the crown ; and we thus per-
ceive that Macbeth wanted " no spur to prick the sides of his intent." This
intent was at length carried into effect by the insidiousness of assassination,
rather than the magnanimity of conflict. And notwithstanding the popularity
of Duncan, owing to his mildness, he was cut off" in a premature age by a
stroke of " treasonous malice," at Bothgowanan, near Elgin, in 1039 a.d. {/).
From the place of his death, we may perceive that the unhappy Duncan had
(/) All the authorities concur in extending the reign of Duncan to sis years. See the Chron.
Table. Ogygia, p. 488 ; Ulster Annals. For the site of that sad event, see the Chron. No. 5 in
Innes. p. 803 ; Chron. Elegiacura in Gale, v. i., p. 597 ; Fordun, 1. iv., c. xliv. ; Lord Hailes's An., v.
i., p. 1. The scene of this tragical event is laid by Shakespeare in Maobeth's castle at Inverness.
Here, says Johnson, is a castle, called the castle of Macbeth, t/ie trails of wliich are still standiih/.
Journey to the W. Islands, p. 34.3. And Steevens. in his Commentary on Shakespeare, v. vii., p. 367,
re-echoes this story. There was, in fact, a castle built at Inverness as eai-ly perhaps as the twelfth
centur}-, which even as late as the eighteenth century was, with some modern baiTacks. used as a royal
fort, and was destroyed by the rebels in 1745. The remains of this castle were a shapeless mass of
ruins when Johnson visited Inverness in 1773. and it was an illusion, both in the traveller and the
commentator, to talk of the walls of Macbeth's castle where he never had a castle nor a residence. In
Shakespeare it was fiction to lay the murder of Duncan at a place different from Bothgowannu. where
the Chronicle had veraciously fixed it.
406 Ax ACCOUNT \Bo6kILL— The Scottish Period.
been drawn by some urgent duty within the territorial government of Gruoch
and Macbeth, as indeed Shakspeare has feigned (g). Duncan left two infant
sons. Malcolm and Donal, by a sister of Siward, the earl of Northumberland.
Malcolm, on the death of his father, fled to Cumberland, and Donal found an
asvlum in the Hebrides (h). Of Duncan, the Gaelic bard says, with an allusion
to his character rather than his person,
" Se bliadlina Dondiadh ghlain gaoith : "
Six years [reigned] the pure-breathed Duncan (i).
Macbeth
Immediately seized " the barren sceptre " in his firmer gripe. About the
lineage and station of this celebrated personage, whose misdeeds have been
dramatized, writers have written variously, as theh purposes were either nar-
rative or dramatic. The fabulous Boece was the first who said that Macbeth 's
father was thane of Angus, and married Doada, the second daughter of
Malcolm II (Jc). Buchanan, without inquiry, adopted the fables of Boece (/).
Holinshed followed Boece as to the station of Macbeth ; and Shakspeare re-
peated the echoes of Holinshed (m). The more veracious Wyntoun calls Mac-
(g) A commentator on Sliakespeai-e supposes, indeed, tliat Duncan was in the legal act of perform-
ing his annual progress for the administration of justice thioughout his dominions. Shakespeare, ed.
1793, V. viii., p. 367 ; and he quotes Fordun and Buchanan, who talk in the idioms of their own
times. In the Celtic days of Duncan there were no such juridical progresses made in any year. The
fact is that Torfin, the earl of Caithness, and cousin of Duncan, refused to pay the tribute which he
owed for Caithness to the Scottish king. Duncan mai'ched into the North to enforce what was due,
and he was obliged to traverse in his course both Moray and Boss, the countries of Gruoch and of
Macbeth. The refractoriness of Torfin was converted by history into the revolt of Macdowal of the
western isles : and the fictitious revolt of Macdowal was dramatized by the magic pen of Shakespeare.
For the facts, see Torfaeus Orcades, c. sii. ; the Orkneyinga Saga, p. 5. 29, 35. 71-4, 87 : and see book
iii., chap. iii.
(/() Dugdale's Bar., v. i., p. 4 ; Fordun, 1. iv., c. xlv.
(i) In 1235 Alexander IL founded a chapel in the cathedral church of Elgin for the soul of king
Duncan. Chart, of Moray, p. 110 ; Innes"s MS. Collections.
(k) B. xii., c. i. (/) L. vii., c. i.
()h) The story of Boece is wholly his own, for none of the more ancient authorities support
his fictions. The old Scottish chroniclers, as well as Fordun, call Macbeth the son of Finlegh or
Finley ; and the Irish annalists call Macbeth the son of Finlaogh. which is the Celtic form of the
name ; but not one of all those authorities mentions anything of Macbeth or his father being
either maormor or thane of Angus. The commentatoi-s on Shakespeare are content to travel in the
humble track of Holinshed, who communicated the fictitious tales of Boece to that inimitable
Ch.Y.—ne Scots and Pwts.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 407
beth the thane of Crumbachtij , which is the Gaelic name of Cromarty ; and,
in the well-known stoiy of the wierd sisters, the chronicler makes the first witch
hail Macbeth, thane of Crumbachty ; the second, thane of Moray, and the
third hails him king (n). These intimations lead directly up to the several
fictions of Boece, Holinshed, and Shakspeare. Macbeth was by birth tlie
thane of Ross, by marriage with the Lady Gruoch, the thane of Moray, and
by his crimes the king of Scots. Finley, as we may learn from Torfaeus, was
maormor, or as the Norwegian historian calls him, jarl of Ross, who at the
commencement of the eleventh century carried on a vigorous war in defence
of his country against the incursions of that powerful vikingr, Sigurd the earl
of Orkney and Caithness (o). With his dominions the district of Finley was
contiguous, while the country of Angus lay southward at a great distance.
Finley lost his life about the year 1020, in some hostile conflict with Mal-
colm II. (jj). This fact alone evinces that Finley would scarcely have fought
with his wife's fathei", if he had been the husliand of Doada. The Lady Gruoch,
when driven from her castle by the cruel fate of her husband, the maormor of
Moray, naturally fled with her infant son Lulach, into the neighbouring-
country of Ross, which was then ruled by Macbeth, who married her during
the reign of Duncan. We have now seen distinctly that Macbsth was maor-
mor of R,oss, the son of Finlegh, and the grandson of Rory or Roderick ; and
that he was the husband of Gruoch, who was the daughter of Boedhe, and the
grand-daughter of Kenneth IV. Macbeth thus united in himself all the power
which was possessed by the partizans of Kenneth IV., all the influence of the
dramatist. The Chronicle in the Register of St. Andrews calls the tyrant of the drama Macbeth, Mac-
Finleg ; the Chron. Elegiacum calls him Macbeth, the son of Finleg ; Fordun calls him Macaheda, the
son of Finele ; and this last name has deluded Guthrie to confound Finele with Fiiiella, the daughter
of Cunechat, the maormor of Angus.
(/() Wyntoun's Chron., v. i., p. 22.5. Macbeth was herein called thane of Cvumbaditij, where his
family, the maormors of Eoss, probably had their seat.
(o) Torfaeus's Orcades, p. 27. In Olave Tiyggueson's Saga, Finleik Scnta larl is also mentioned as
the antagonist of Sigurd at the end of the tenth century, before Sigurd married the daughter of
Malcolm II. Enquiry Hist. Scot., 178'J, v. ii., p. 197.
{p) Ulster Annals, sub an. 1020, state that Finloch, the son of Eory, a king of Scotland, "a snis
'• occisus." These expressions convey the idea of civil war. By a kiiir/ of Scotland, the Annals
mean a prince, chief, or maormor in Scotland. The Irish annahsts generally considered the chiefs
of the several divisions of Scotland during that period in the light of petty kings or princes, the same
as the petty kings of Ireland ; and they frequently mention the proper kings by the title of supreme
or arch king. Indeed, the Gaelic terms Righ, Triath, Flath, etc., are equally applied to a king, a
prince, and to a lord or ruler ; hence it is onl}- b}' an attention to the fact that a proper translation can
be given.
408 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
Lady Gruoch and of her son Lulach, together with the authority of maormor
of Ross, but not of Angus. With all these powers, in superaddition to his own
character for address and vigour, Macbeth became superior to Duncan and the
partizans of his family. Macbeth had to avenge the wrongs of his wife, and to
resent for himself the death of his father. The superiority of Macbeth, and the
weakness of Duncan, were felt when the unhappy king expiated the crimes of
his fathers, by " his most sacrilegious murder ; " and Macbeth hastily marched
to Scone, where he was inaugurated as the king of Scots, supported I)}' the clans
of Moray and Ross, and applauded by the shouts of the partizans of Kenneth IV.
If Macbeth had been in fact what fiction had supposed, the son of the second
daughter of Malcolm, his title to the throne would have been preferable to the
right of Duncan's son, according to the Scottish constitution from the earliest
epoch of the monarchy. Whatever defect there may have been in his title to
the sullied sceptre of his unhappy predecessor, he seems to have been studious
to supply by a vigorous and beneficent administration. He even practised
the hospitality which gives shelter to the fugitive (q). During his reign, plenty
is said to have abounded ; justice was administered ; the chieftains who would
have raised disturbances, were either overawed by his power, or repressed by
his valoiu'. Yet injury busied herself in plotting vengeance. t'rinan, the
abbot of Dunkeld, who as the father of Duncan and the grandfather of his
sons, must have been now well-stricken in years, put himself at the head of the
friends of Duncan, and made a gallant but unsuccessful attempt to restore
them to their rights (r). Yet the odious crime by which Macbeth acquired
his authority, seems to have haunted his most prospei'ous moments. He tried
by distributing money at Rome, by largesses to the clergy, and by charity to
the poor, to obtain relief from " the affliction of those terrible dreams, that did
.shake him nightly (s)." Macbeth, and the Lady Gruoch his wife, gave the
(7) See Sim. Dun., p. 187.
()■) In an. 104.5 the Ulster Annals record a battle between the Scots themselres. wherein Orionan, the
abbot of Dunkeld, was slain. Lord Hailes slates, from Fordun, that the partizans of Malcolm often
attempted his restoration, but that their feeble and ill-concerted efforts only served to establish the
usurper. Fordun, 1. iv., c. slvi. : 1. v., c. i.-vii. ; Annals Scot., v. i., p. 2. Lord Hailes throughout
his Annals talks too often in the idiom of his own times. We thus see that he did not perceive how
Macbeth could have any right. The superiority of Duncan's title arose from his jjossession, not from
the representation of his grandfather, Malcolm II.
(s) Marianus Scotus, a contemporary writer of great judgment, was the first who asserted that
" Eex Scotiae Macbetad [Macbeth] Eomae argentum seminando pauperibus distribuit.'' Chron.
sub an. 1050, ed. Struvius, v. i., p. 650. Marianus was followed by Flor. Wig., p. 409 ; Chron.
Mel., p. 157; Sim. Dun., p. 184; and with them concurred Wyntoun and Fordun, 1. v., c. ix.
Ch. Nil.— The Scots and Pkts.'] OpNOETH-BRITAIN. 409
lands of Kirkness and also the manor of Bolgy to the Culdees of Lochleven (t).
Yet the friendship of the Pope and the support of the clergy did not ensure
Macbeth a quiet reign. His rigour increased with his sense of insecurity. The
injuries of Macduff, the Maormar of Fife, constantly prompted the son of
Duncan to attempt the I'edi-ess of all their wrongs. With the approbation,
perhaps by the command, of Edward the Confessor, Siward, the potent earl
of Northumberland and the relation of Malcolm, conducted a numerous army
into Scotland during the year 1054 (m). The Northumbrians, led by Siward
and his son Osbert, penetrated probably to Dunsinan {x). In this vicinity
were they confronted by Macbeth, when a furious conflict ensued. The num-
bers of the slain evince the length of the battle and the bravery of the com-
batants {y). Osbert was slain ; yet Macbeth, after all his efforts of valour
Goodal, the editor of Forduu, was the first who was so absurd as to suppose on those authorities
that Macbeth went to Eome. He was followed by the Enquirer, 1789, vol. ii., p. 198, who, in
order to convert an improbability into a likelihood, shows how many princes went to Eome in the
same age. While Lord Hailes laughs at this supposition, he insists that the Original insinuated
" Macbeth bribed the court of Rome." An., v. i., p. 3. We have seen above what the Oriyinal says,
which is copied by Fordun.
(t) Register of St. Andrews.
(a) Flor. Wigorn., p. 416; Sim. Dun. in Twisden, p. 187. Bromton, lb., 946; Chron. Mail-
ros, in Gale, v. i., p. 158 ; Fordun, 1. v., e. vii. The Saxon Chronicle, indeed, is silent ; but
William of Malmsbury, Hoveden, Matthew Flor., and Usher, speak to the same fact and to the same
year.
(x-) Wyntoun relates, as the notion of his times, that the Northumbrians passed the Forth and Tay,
marched to Brynnane and thence to Dunsanane, " ilka man baring intil hys hand a busk of that
" wodo there." Cronykill, v. i., p. 238-9. Wyntoun adds from tradition a very curious circumstance
of Birnam wood :
" The flyttand ivod thai callyd ay
" That lang tyme eftyi'e-hend that day."
Birnam was anciently a forest and a part of the royal domain. Near Duncan's hill, which forms a
part of this classic scenery, there are a number of tumuli, which seem to indicate that Macbeth did
not wait for the arrival of Malcolm with his English auxiliaries at Dunsinan hill. Stat. Account,
V. vi., p. 374.
(jj) In 1054 the Ulster Ann. record a battle between the Scots and Saxons, wherein 8000
Scots and 1500 Saxons were killed. The site of this memorable battle has not yet been ascertained.
In the inclosures of Belmont, indeed, within the parish of Meigle, which is so justly celebrated for
its antiquities, there is a tumulus called Belli-duff, where tradition asserts that Macbeth fought
and fell. Stat. Account, v. i., p. 505-6, by the Rev. Dr. Playfair, who properly intimates that
Macbeth was slain at a quite dififerent place. At some distance from Belli-duff there is a standing
atone of granite 20 tons weight, which the same tradition says was raised to commemorate the
death of one of his generals. The site of this tumulus and stone is about eight miles north from
Dunsinan hill in Strathmore, the great passage which leads from the Tay into the North. See
Vol. I. 3 G
410 AnACCOUNT [Book HI.— The Scottish Period.
and vigour of conduct, was overcome. He retired into the North, where he
had numerous friends, and where he might find many fastnesses. Siward re-
turned into Northumberland, and died at York in 1055 (z). Meantime Macbeth
continued his bloody contest with Malcolm ; and this uncommon character was
at length slain at Lumphanan, on the 5th of December, 1056, by the injured
hand of Macduff (a).
The singular story of Macbeth has furnished a subject to one of the sublimest
of poets for one of the noblest of dramas. The age, the subject, the country,
the notions of the times wherein lived the dramatist himself, were all highly
favoui-able to this great production of the human genius. Every fiction, every
tradition, every locality were allowable to Shakspeare ; but no poetic licence
descended to his commentators, who were bound in their strictures to adhere
to the truth (6). Much of this drama is made to turn upon two points of his-
Stobie's Map of Perthshire. This tradition is the more worth}- of credit as it is not reared on the
fictions of Boeoe. I have searched without success for some memorial of Osbert, the gallant son of
Siward, whose fall even gave satisfaction to his heroic father.
(e) Sim. Dun., p. 187 ; Flor. Wigom, p. 416. The Sason Chron. states the death of Siward in
1055, while less veracious authorities state this event in after times.
(a) Fordun, 1. v., c. vii., asserts that Macbeth was slain on the 5th of December, 1056, and Fordun
is followed by Lord Hailes. An., v. i., p. 3. The genuine chronology evinces that he must have
died in 1056 A.D., after a reign of seventeen years. See the Chron. Table. Yet is the year
wherein Macbeth was slain given out as a theme for the discussion of the antiquaries of Scotland.
Enquiry, 1789, v. ii., p. 349. The ancient chronicles seem to convey the tradition of the times that
Macbeth was killed by a cruel death. Macbeth's caiin, which lies about a statute mile northward
from the kii'k of Lumphanan on the brow of a hill, is forty yards in circumference, and is pretty high
in the middle ; farther up the hill there are several smaller cairns. Stat. Acco., v. vi., p. 388.
These facts seem to intimate that here in some skirmish Macbeth finished his guilty career. Here,
too. if we may believe tradition and remains, a son of Macbeth also fell in his retreat from the same
skii-mish which decided his father's fate. In the parish of Tough, a few miles north of Lumphanan,
there is a large standing stone twelve and a half feet of perpendicular height, and nine and a half
round, which, as tradition repeats, was raised to commemorate the fall of Macbeth's son, who was in-
terred under it. Stat. Account, v. viii., p. 269. Of this event and of the children of Macbeth the
chronicles are silent.
(b) There are a thousand blunders in the introductory note to the play of Macbeth in
Steevens edition of Shakspeare, 1793. (1.) Crinan, who married the daughter of Malcolm II.,
was not thane of the isles, nor of the western parts of Scotland. Crinan was, in fact, abbot of
Dunkeld, and there were no thanes in Scotland during that age. (2.) Malcolm's second
daughter married Sinel, the thane of Glamis, the father of Macbeth. Now, the name was not
Sinel, but Finley, and he was not thane of Glamis, but maormor or prince of Ross. (3.) Dun-
can married the daughter of Siward, but it was the sister of Siward whom Duncan married.
(4.) Duncan was murdered by his cousin-german, Macbeth, in the castle of Inverness in 1040
or 1045 ; but Macbeth may have been a relation though not a cousin-german. Duncan was in
Ch. VII.— r/(e Scots and Picts.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 411
tory which had no foundation in fact. There was not, in the reign of Duncan,
any revolt in the western isles ; for the Hebrides then belonged not to Scot-
land, but to Norway. Neither is it probable, though it be possible, that Sweno,
the king of Norway, landed any army in Fife during that reign, as he ap-
pears to have been much otherwise occupied, and to have died in 10.35 (c).
Other subordinate circumstances are egregiously conceived. Cumberland is
said to have been then held by Scotland of the crown of England as a fief (d) ;
but we have already seen the real tenure by which Cumberland was connected
with Scotland, while jiefs were unknown in this island. The crown of Scot-
land is said to have been originally not hereditary (e). The whole history
evinces that the descent of the crown was hereditary in the royal family,
though not in any determinate series, while the right of representation was un-
known, and the brother, the cousin, or the son of the preceding king, who
was best qualified to wield his sceptre, and who had the strongest party, suc-
ceeded to the vacant throne. The personages of the drama are egregiously
misinterpreted. The filiation and station of Macbeth, the filiation and con-
nection of Lady Macbeth, are strangely misconceived, as we have seen.
History knows nothing of Banquo, the thane of Lochaber, nor of Fleance, his
son (y").. None of the ancient chronicles nor Irish annals, nor even Fordun,
recognize the fictitious names of Banquo and Fleance, though the latter be
made by genealogists the " root and father of many kings." Even the com-
fact murdered at Bothgowanan, near Elgin, many a mile from Inverness, and that sad event hap-
pened in 1039, according to the genuine chronology. (5.) Macbeth was himself slain in 1057
or 1061 ; but this event happened in December, 1056. There are in this introduction other
hallucinations, which, as they do not belong to the history of this reign, need not be here
rectified.
(c) Langebek's Scriptores ; Lacombe's Abr. Chron. de I'histoire du Nord., v. i., p. 81.
(d) Shak., ed. 1793, v. vii., p. 368.
(e) Id.
(/) Even the very names of Banquo and Fleance seem to be fictitious, as they are not Gaelic. The
traditions with regard to them are extremely faint. There is, indeed, on the summit of one of the
Sidlaw hills, about eight miles north-north-east from Dunsinan, an old tower of modern erection,
which is called Banquo tower. Ainslie's Map of Forfarshire. The minister, however, who writes
the account of the local antiquities of the parish, does not call this erection Banquo's tower. Stat.
Account, V. iii., p. 403. The minister of Kilmalie parish, in Lochaber, speaks of Banquo being the
ancestor of the house of Stuart, who had his castle on the river Loohy, near Fort William : "And a
little below the site of Torecastle there is a most beautiful walk, about a quarter of a mile long, that
still retains the name of Banquo." Stat. Account, v. viii., p. 436. We know, from the evidence of
record, that Banquo was not an ancestor of the family of Stewart ; and the other circumstances are
modem in their applications.
412 An ACCOUNT {BooklU.— The Scottish Penoct.
mentators trace up the family of Stewart to Fleance (g). Neither is a thane of
Lochaber known in Scottish history, because the Scottish kings had never any
demesnes within that impervious district. Caithness owed but a very doubtful
allegiance to the Scottish kings in that age ; for Torfin, the son of Sigurd,
affected to be the independent earl of Caithness during the whole reigna of
Duncan and of Macbeth, Such as were thanes before the death of Macbeth
were now made earls in the fictitious parliament at Forfar, say the commenta-
tors, after Holinshed, but without authority, or analogy, or probability (h).
Such, then, are the misconceptions of the commentators as to the history, and
the drama, of Macbeth.
Of the real fate of Lady Macbeth, history, tradition, and fable are silent.
Shakspeare indeed informs us, that " the fiend-like queen, by self and violent
"hands, took off her life, as 'tis thought." Tradition, with remains, seem to
evince that a son of Macbeth fell with his father in the same engagement, and
was favoured with a similar memorial. The name of Macbeth was long popular
in Scotland. The Scottish people saw, with indignant eyes, foreign mercenaries
interpose in their domestic affairs. Men of great consequence considered them-
selves as dignified by the name of " this dead butcher." Whatever asperity of
reproach the poet indulged to gratify the populace of the theatre, the plenty of
the reign of Macbeth, his justice, his vigour, his hospitality, were long remem-
bered in Scotland (i). As a legislator, perhaps he is entitled to less praise, as
Macbeth's laws, which are detailed by Boece, are obvious forgeries, though they
be admitted into the Concilia Britannice.
Every object which is in anywise connected with this famous character is in-
teresting. When we approach "high Dunsinan hill," we tread on classic ground;
yet this well-known fortress, on this pap-like height, has every appearance of
having been constructed by the human hands of the ancient Britons, M'ithout
the wizard aid of the weird sisters. It is similar to the pristine strengths
(gr) Shakespeare, 1793, vii., p. 473. {h) lb., p. 582.
(t) See tlie ancient Chronicles. Cormac, the son of Macbeth, is one of the witnesses to a confirma-
tion by Alexander I. and David I. of their brother Ethelred's grant to the Caldees. Eegister of St.
Andrews. Macbeth Mac-Torfin is a witness to a charter of David I. to the monastery of Dunfermhne.
Maldowen Macbeth is a witness to a charter of the same king to the same monastery. Dalrymple's
Col., p. 388. There was a Macbeth, thane of Falkland, in the time of David I. Crawf. Off. of State,
App., p. 431. Macbeth of Liberton was a person of great consideration in Lothian during David I's
reign, and witnessed many of his charters. Macbeth was the bishop of Boss in the time of David I.
Keith's Bishops, p. 109. There was a Macbeth judex of Gowry in the reign of William the Lion.
Chart. Coupre, No. 14. In 1184 a.d. Simon, the son of Macbeth, was sheriff of Traquair. Chart.
Newbotle, No. 30.
Gh. VIL— The Seot/< and Picts.] Of NORTH-BRITAIN. 41g
on Barra Kill, to the Cater-thuns, and to several hill forts in South-Britain.
Dunsinan hill is one of the Sidlaw chain, and is separated from the neigh-
bouring hills by a deep valley and is about eight miles north-east from Perth,
It towers in an oval form to the height of a thousand and twenty-four feet
above the level of the sea. The summit was s\u-rounded by a strong rampart of
stones. It had the additional defence of a fosse and a ledge of rocks. The
original height of the rampart is uncertain, as the part of it which remains
entire is six feet hig-h and is covered with an immense mass of ruins. The
height must have once been considerable. A road which takes the hill on
the north-east ascends in a slanting direction, crosses the esplanade, and en-
ters the rampart and area on the south-south-west. Another road which
was cut through the rock went up from the Longman's grave in a straight
direction and enters the centre of the esplanade. The interior area of the
fortress was of an oval form, two hundred and ten feet in length and one
hundred and thirty in breadth (k). When an inquisitive antiquary surveyed
Dunsinan hill in 1772, he was induced by tradition to suppose that
" a high rampart environed the whole and defended the castle, itself large
" and well fortified (l)." When the same height was afterwards inspected by
several ministers of the neighbouring parishes, the high rampart and ivell fortified
castle were no longer visible. The weird sisters continue, it should seem, to
hover around this enchanted seat of bloody usurpation. In the fair form of fond
tradition they displayed to the inquisitive eyes of the youthful antiquary towered
embattlements and a lofty castle ; but when the spell-dissolving ministers ap-
proached, the higli rampart and large castle itself appeared to them like the
(Jc) For various descriptions of this interesting fortress see Stat. Account, vi. i., p. 503 ; lb., v.
XX., p. 241-246, with a sketch annexed; View of the Agriculture of Perthshire, p. 509 ; Stobie's Map
of Perthshire. A section was lately made across the top of the hill by Dr. Playfair, and flags, charcoal,
and bones of several species of animals were discovered, but no appearance of any building. At
the south extremity of the section there was found a pit adjoining the rampart full of fat and moist
earth, loose stones, burnt wood, and bones of cattle, sheep, and hares, &c., but none of the human
body. Having penetrated seven yards horizontally into the heart of the mass of stones and rubbish,
which had composed the rampart and surrounded the area, part of the wall of the rampart was
discovered quite entire. It is nicely built of large stones bedded in clay or mortar. The entire part
of the wall is five or six feet high. Upon making incisions into other parts of the rampart, the wall
was found in the same good preservation quite round the whole fortress, having been protected by
the large mass of ruins over it, which was covered with a green sward. View of the Agriculture of
Perthshire, p. 569.
(J.) See the additional information, respecting the castle of Dunsinan, in the Stat. Account, v. xx.,
p. 243.
414 AnACCOUNT [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
baseless fabric of a vision in the shrunken shape of " a large mass of ruins
" which was covered with a green sward."
Tradition relates that Macbeth resided ten years after his usurpation at
Carnbeddie, in the neighbouring parish of St. Martin's. The vestiges of his
castle are still to be seen, which the country people call Carn-beth and Mac-
beth's Castle (q). The celebrated name of Dunsinan is said to signify, in
Gaelic, " the hill of ants ;" with an allusion to the great labour which was
necessary for collecting the immense materials of so vast a building (r). Gaelic
scholars, who delight to fetch from afar what may be found at home, approve
of this etymon as very apt ; yet is it Dun-seangain, in the Irish, which would
signify the hill of ants. Dua-sinin signifies, in the Scoto-Irish, a hill resem-
bling a nipple ; and, in fact, this famous hill does appear, at some distance, to
resemble what the Scoto-Irish word describes, with the usual attention of the
Gaelic people to picturesque propriety in their local names.
LULACH,
Immediately after the fall of Macbeth, ascended the throne, on the bloody steps
of his predecessor, and was sometime supported there by the powerful in-
fluence of their united families (h). Lulach was descended from a long line
of princes who, as they ruled the ample country of Moray, were of great con-
sequence. As they governed their tribe with an mdependent sway, the
((^) Carnbeddie is about three and a half statute miles from Dunsinan hill. Stobie's Map. As
Macbeth had a castle which was his usual residence, it is not likely that he would build another on
Dunsinan-hill so near ; he probably kept up the British fortress on this hill as a place of retreat on
any emergency, from which it has got the name of Macbeth's Castle. The term castle is, in many
instances in Scotland, applied to camps or fortifications by entrenchment and rampart only, and not
exclusively to a strong house or tower. Such are Casi/t-dykes, a Roman camp in Clydesdale ; Castle-
over, a British and Eoman hill camp in Eskdale ; Castle-Cary, a Eoman post on the Wall of Antonine ;
TibheT's-castle, a Roman camp near Durisdeer ; and several British fortifications are called Maiden-
castle. In the same manner the British fortress on Barra-hill got the name of Cummins Camp, from
the army of the Cummins taking shelter in it after their defeat at Inverury. No well appears to have
been discovered upon Dunsinan hill, which would be an indispensable requisite to any castle for a con-
stant residence.
(r) Stat. Acco., v. xx., p. 243.
(h) Luailleach, in Gaelic, is a mimic, a person full of gestures. Lluyd"s Arch., and O'Brien. Fatmis,
which was applied as an epithet to Lulach, may have been intended, sarcastically, as the Latin trans-
lation of the Gaelic Tjuailleach, which was easily translated, by the ignorance of chroniclers, into the
sobriquet of idiot.
Oh. VII.— r^e Scots and Pkts.'] OrNORTH-BElTAIN. 415
Maormors of Moray were often opposed in civil conflict to the Scottish
kings. Of such insurrections, the first which distinctly appears was that of
Cellach against Malcolm, who died in 953 (i). The men of Moray revenged
the slaughter of their chief. They advanced southward, and meeting Malcolm
in the Mearns, they slew him, as we have seen, at Fetteresso {k). Duff, attempt-
ing perhaps, to avenge the death of his father, was himself slain by the same
people, at the ill-omened Forres, in 965 {I). At the end of this century, Maol-
brigid, the prince or Maormor of Moray, had the difficult task of defending
his country against the Norwegian vikingr (m) ; and in this afllictive warfare,
he defeated and slew Liot, an Earl of Orkney (n). Maolbrigid was succeeded
by his son Gilcomgain in the arduous government of Moray (o). Gilcomgain
married Gruoch, the daughter of Bodhe, the son of Kenneth IV (p). Engaged
in civil war with Malcolm II., Gilcomgain lost his life, as we have seen, in 1032,
when he left his widow Gruoch and his son Lulach to find their own pro-
tectors amid such bloody scenes. Soon after the demise of Malcolm II. Mac-
beth, the neighbouring Maormor of lioss, married the Lady Gruoch ; and
thereby became the father-in-law of Lulach, and the guardian of his own wife,
and the defender of Moray. The Maormors of that age, when they rebelled,
could only forfeit for themselves ; the clans possessed privileges, which pre-
(t) The Chron. No. 3, in Innes, states that Malcolm marched his army into Moray, and slew
Cellach.
(i-) See the Chron. No. 5, in Innes ; and it is followed by Fordun, lib. iv., e. xxvii. ; Wyntoun,
V. i., p. 179 ; Sir J. Dalrymple's Col., p. 99 ; and the Inquiry, 1789, v. i., p. 596. The Chron. No.
3, in Innes, indeed says that Malcolm was slain at Fetteresso by the men of Mearns; but the Chroni-
con Elegiaoum concurs with probability and the Eegister of St. Andrews, in saying that Malcolm was
killed by the Moraymen at Ulurn.
(/) Chron. No. 5, in Innes ; Chron. Elegiaoum ; and Fordun, lib. iv., c. 28.
{m) Torfseus Orcades, p. 25. Maolbrigid, whom he mistakingly calls Comes Maghragdus, is men-
tioned by that historian as carrying on hostilities with the Norwegians, who were settled at the end of
the tenth century in the Orkneys, Caithness, and Sutherland.
(.) Id.
(o) The Ulster Annals, under the year 10.32, expressly state Gilcomgain to be the son of Maol-
brigid.
{p) The Ulster Annals, under the year 1033, show that Boedhe was the son of Kenneth IV. It is
ascertained by documents in the Reg. of St. Andrews, that Gruoch was the daughter of Bodhe. and
consequently was the grand-daughter of Kenneth IV. Crawfurd's OfiScers of State, p. 429. The
Chron. No. 4, in Innes, states that Lulach was "neposjilij Boidhe," the grandson of Bodhe, the father
being confounded with the son by prefixing the Gaelic Mac to his name. The Ulster Annals assert,
under the year 1058, that Lulach was the son of Gilcomgain. Buchanan, lib. vii., c. xv., calls Lulach
the son of Macbeth, and so says O'Flaherty in the Ogygia, p. 498 ; yet was Lulach only the sfju-in-laiv
of Macbeth, who married Gruoch, his mother.
416 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book UI.—Tlie Scottish Period.
eluded the king from appointing a Maormar for them, without their own
consent ; hence the clans were ever forward to revenge the death of their
Maormar, and to protect the rights of his issue ; and from this genuine
history originated the celebrated fables which were repeated by Boece, re-
echoed by Holinshed, dignified by Buchanan, and dramatized by Shaks-
peare {q).
Lulach was thus the great-grandson of Kenneth IV., who fell at the battle of
Monievard in 1003 ; as Kenneth IV. was descended fi'om Dulf, the eldest son
of Malcolm I., the son of Donald IV., and through Constantin II. derived his
blood immediately from Kenneth MacAlpin, the title of Lulach to the sceptre
and the sword of his fathers was perhaps preferable, in the legal usages of that
Gaelic age, to the pretensions of Malcolm Ceanmore, who was descended from
Kenneth III., the second son of Malcolm (r). Lulach was the son of Gruoch,
the grand-daughter of Kenneth IV. Malcolm was the son of Beatrice, the
daughter of Malcolm II. Lulach, as his father perished in 1032, must have
been a youth of five or six-and-twenty when he succeeded Macbeth on the
5th of December, 1056. The short reign of Lulach extended only throughout
a few months of feverish struggle. His antagonist was enterprizing in himself,
and was supported by strangers. The competitors for the bloody sceptre met ija
a decisive conflict at Essie, in Strathbogie, where Lulach fell before the fortune
of Malcolm, on the 3rd of April, 1057 (s). Lulach was buried with Macbeth,
in lona, the accustomed repository of the Scottish kings. He left a daughter
to weep his fall, and to transmit his rights with his wrongs.
(q) From those several traits of real history arose the singular story, which so many poets had
considered as fitter for the drama than for history, that the thane of Moray was forfeited, and that
Macbeth was appointed thane. The rebellion of Giloomgain was obviously the origin of what is said
of " that most disloyal traitor, the thane of Cawdor," who was condemned, and his title given to
Macbeth ; and hence Moray, in its largest extent, is made the scene of the several events in the drama
of Macbeth, till the thane of so many districts acquired the crown. The heath, where he met the
weird sisters, lies between Foitcs and Nairn. The first witch hailed hina thane of Glamis, Boece ; of
Angus, Buchanan. The second witch hailed him thane of Cawdor, Boece ; of Murave, Buchanan. The
titles of Glamis and Cawdor were boiTOwed by Boece from thanedoms of more recent origin, the
former in Angus, the latter in Moray. Duncan, too, was killed at Inverness according to the drama ;
hear Elgin according to the Chronicles.
(r) See the Genealogical Table facing p. 416.
(s) Chron. No. 4, in Innes. The Chron. No. 5, in Innes, says that Lulach, J'atuus, was at the
end of four months slain at Essie, in Strathbogie. The Chron. Eythmicum extends his reign to
four months and a half. Essie is the name of a parish which has been annexed to Rhynie, in Aber-
deenshire. Tigernach, in Ogygia, p. 498, says that Lulach was slain by Malcolm. The Ulster
Ch. Y'a.—The Picts and Scots.'] OfNORTH-BBITAIN. 417
Malcolm III.,
At length ascended the bloody throne, after a continued conflict of two
years (<). The prudence of Malcolm was for some years successfully em-
ployed in rewarding those who had supported his struggle, and in calming the
spirits of a harassed nation (v). He seems to have cultivated jseace with Eng-
land, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, while he was not firmly fixed
in the affections of his Gaelic people (m). Malcolm made his first excursion
into England, on very slight provocation, broke the peace of St. Cuthbert,
and wasted Northumberland [iv). In 1066, Tostig, the brother of Harold,
being obliged to flee from Stanford-bridge, found his safety with Malcolm (x).
In 1068 he gave an asykim to Edgar ^theling, who feared the cruelty of
William the Norman, with his sister Margaret, whom Malcolm soon after
Annuls, mistaking tlie year 1058 for 1057, state that Lulach Mac-Gilcomgain, the archkhuj of Scot-
land, was killed by Malcolm Mac-Duncha, in battle. Lord Hailes, copying Fordun, lib. v., c. viii., says
that Lulaoh was killed on the 3rd of April, 1057. An., v. i., p. 3 ; and this is altogether consistent
with the genuine chronology. See the Chron. Table.
(<) Fruitless inquiries have been made about the age of Malcolm Ceanmore. He was much under
age at the death of his father in 1039. The marriage of Bethoc, the eldest daughter of Malcolm 11.,
to Crinan, the abbot of Dunkeld, could not have been earlier than the beginning of the 11th century,
when Crinan was very little more than 20 years of age ; for in 1045-6 he was still in sufficient vigour
of life to go into battle, where he fell in attempting to avenge the murder of his son Duncan. Allow-
ing, then, that Duncan, the son of this marriage, married soon after 20 3'ears of age, his oldest son,
Malcolm, could not have been more than 15 years of age, if he were really so much, at the death
of his father in 1039. If he were then fifteen, he must have been born in 1024, in the 21st year of
his grandfather, while his father governed Cumberland as regulus or king, according to the expression
of the English chroniclers ; and Malcolm Ceanmore was consequently thirty-three at his accession,
about forty-four when he married the princess Margaret, and about sixty-nine at the epoch of his de-
mise, in 1093. From this inquiry into the age of Malcolm III. and his father Duncan, we may see
the absurdity of the notion that Malcolm was not the son, but the grandson of Duncan. Enquiry,
1789, V. ii., p. 203.
(v) Of his bounty to Macduff there is no direct evidence. It seems certain, however, that in very
early times the Maormors, or Earls of Fife, were entitled (1), to place the king on the inaugural stone ;
(2), to lead the van of the king's army into battle ; (3), to enjoy the privilege of sanctuary to the clan
MacDuff. Wj'ntoun, v. i., p. 240-2 ; Sibbald's Fife, ch. ii. ; Douglas' Peerage, p. 274 ; Lord Hailes,
Ans., V. i., p. 4 ; but the calling of a Parliament at Forfar is a mere modern fiction.
(«) The silence of the Saxon Chronicle and of Florence confirm the fact which is mentioned in the
text. He is said to have visited Edward in 1059. Sim. Dun., p. 190.
(m-) Id. (ar) lb., 193.
Vol. L 3 H
418 An ACCOUNT [Book III.— ^Ae Scottish Period.
maiTied (y). He now engaged more intimately in the troubles of England,
without any apparent motive ; and in 1070, he marched through Cumber-
land into Teesdale, and putting to flight all who opposed his progress, he car-
ried his gory sword through Cleveland and Durham (2). In his rage of
devastation, he did not even spare the churches. Gospatric, who now ruled
Northumberland as Earl, emulated Malcolm in the spoU which he meanwhile
made in Cumberland. The Scottish king led so many captives with him into
Scotland, that the English prisoners were for many years to be heard in every
village and in every house (a)..
The time was now at hand when William the Conquerer was to revenge
his wrongs on Malcolm. But his policy was first directed to the calming of
the disturbances in Northumberland. By making it a desert, he ensured its
peace. Many of the Northumbrians sought their safety beyond the Tweed.
In 1072, William invaded Scotland by sea and land, with design perhaps
to chastise, rather than subdue a valorous people in a barren land. Malcolm
advanced to obstruct his progress. The two kings met in conference at
Abernithi, the mouth of the Nith in Dumfries-shire (b). Malcolm agi'eed to
do homage for the territories which he held in England, and gave his son
Duncan as a hostage (c). On that occasion it probably was that William
deprived Malcolm of Cumberland, which the English king transferred to Ralph
Meschines, to be held by the tenure of the sword (d). Edgar ^theling was
probably included in that treaty, as he left Scotland in the subsequent year,
retui-ned to England, and thence going into Normandy, made peace with
William (e).
During seven years both the kings appear to have kept their engagements ;
and the two kingdoms enjoyed a repose which was equally beneficial to both.
Malcolm, however, still i-ecollected that he had lost something either of ter-
(y) Flor., "Wig., p. 432 ; Sim. Dun., p. 194-9.
(x) Sim. Dun., p. 200-1. (a) Simeon, p. 201-2. Bromton's Chronicle.
(b) There have been some doubts entertained about the place where this famous conference was
held. Lord Hailes An., p. 13. But Florence, p. 438, is positive that the name of the place was
Abernithi. Simeon, p. 203, calls the place of meeting Abernithi: this, then, was obviously the mouth
of the Nith, in Dumfries, as we know many of the names of places in that shire remain in their Bri-
tish form to this day. These circumstances evince that the invasion of William, both by land and sea,
was made along the western coast.
(c) Id. Sax. Chron., p. 181, which says, however, that WiUiam led his army to the Ge-waede ; ad
Ticedam, says Gibson.
((/) Camden's Britannia; Diigdale's Monast., v. i., p. 400.
(e) Flor. Wig., p. 439.
Ch. VU..—Tlte Scots and Picts.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 419
ritory or character in his late transaction with WLlham ; and while tlie Eng-
lish king was engaged abroad in civil war with his son Robert, the king of
Scots, during the year 1079, carried his devastations into Northumberland as
far as the Tyne {f). Many he killed, says Florence, moi-e he captivated, and
with much plunder returned {g). As Robert was now reconciled to his oftended
father, he was entrusted with the command of the army, which was sent,
in 1080 A.D., to chastise Scotland; but as Malcolm remained behind the
Forth, Robert could only march over barren moors to Eggleshrech, without
effecting any exploit, which could do honour to his character, amidst cold
and want (h). During his inglorious return, he built on the coaly Tyne a
new Castle, which has since given a celebrated name to a commercial
emporium (^).
William the Conqueror died on the 9th of September, 1087, and was
succeeded by his second son, William Rufus. Malcolm was little gratified
by the attentions of the new king, while the English sovereign withheld from
him Cumberland, his ancient possession, with some lands that Malcolm perhaps
inherited from his father. Exasperated by other mortifications, the Scottish
king entered England in May, 1091, during the absence of William in Nor-
mandy; but, learning, when he had penetrated to Chester-in-the-street, that an
army was marching to oppose his advance, Malcolm thought it prudent to re-
tire without risking a battle. In retaliation, the king of England prepared a
mighty armament to invade Scotland by land and sea. The English fleet
was dispersed by an autumnal storm, and many of the English cavalry perished
from want and cold ; yet William marched forward to encounter his anta-
gonist. Malcolm, willing to meet his opponent, crossed the Forth into
Lothian ; but Robert, the Duke of Normandy, and Edgar ^theling, who
then lived with Malcolm, negotiated a peace between the hostile kings, which
rather prevented action than promoted reconcilement. Malcolm promised the
same duty which he had yielded to the conqueror. William engaged to restore
(/) Sax. Chron., p. 184 ; Sim. Dun., p. 210.
Iff) Flor. Wig., 443 ; Sim. Dun., p. 210.
(h) Sim. Dun., p. 211. Lord Hailes thouglit he could ascertain tlie position of lujglesbrech,
and he accordingly placed it at Bride-kirk, near Annan. 1 Anl., p. 19. The name of the place
has been variously spelt by chroniclers, as he studiously shows : the true spelling is Eijlesbrec, the old
name of Falkirk. If Robert had penetrated to Annan, he must have entered Scotland from Cum-
berland on the west ; but as his irruption was bounded by Falkirk, he must have come down to this
well-known town, the scene of so many conflicts, through Northumberland, whither he certainly
returned.
(i) Sax. Chron., p. 184 ; Sim. Dun., p. 210 ; Fordun, lib. v., c. xvii.
3 H2
420 AnACCOUNT [Book 111.— The Scottish Period.
to the Scottish king twelve manors which Duncan had held in England, and
to pay twelve marks of gold annually to Malcolm (k). Yet the peace did not
continue long between these angry potentates. William fortified Carlisle in
the subsequent year. Malcolm resented this distrustful measure. A personal
interview was promoted by those who had an interest in preserving peace.
Malcolm met William at Gloucester, in August, 1093 ; but this interview
ended unhappily, as the demand of homage was as captiously proposed as it
was cautiously avoided. William was advised to detain the Scottish king ; but
disregarding suggestions which would only have dishonoured himself, he al- '
lowed Malcolm to depart, attended with circumstances of contempt for his
power (/).
The Scottish king, resenting this contumely, hastened to raise an army with
which he entered Northumberland. He attacked the castle of Alnwick, but
he was surprised by Earl Mowbray, and slain on the 13th of November, 1093.
His eldest son Edward shared his misfortune ; and Margaret, his wife, who
had brought him six sons and two daughters, was so affected when she heard
of those sad events, that she only lived to perform those religious duties which,
throughout a life of goodness, she had been studious to pay (hi).
Such are the principal events of the long reign of Malcolm Ceanmore. But
it is supposed by historians and by lawyers that Malcolm performed much
greater feats than his predatory ini'oads into England ; that he introduced sur-
names among his Gaelic people ; that he created new titles of honour by
substituting ecwls for thanes ; that he introduced the feudal law among uncon-
genial tribes ; that he held parliaments without estates (n). There are, how-
ever, a thousand reasons which we shall consider in our progress, for rejecting
those speculative points as the most egregious fictions. Malcolm III. had
neither authority from law nor influence from character Avhich could have
enabled him to make such innovations among such a people. There is no
evidence that he made any innovations ; but there is the strongest proofs that
the Gaelic inhabitants would neither receive any strange people nor admit any
novel practices. Malcolm may be allowed to have been a vigorous character ;
to have been a prince without learning ; a soldier without conduct ; and a
(k) Sax. Chron., p. 198 ; Florence Wig., p. 457 ; Sim. Dun., p. 216 ; Fordun, lib. v., cb. six., who
quotes William of Malmsbury, his usual authority.
(0 Sax Chron., p. 189, 190 ; Flor. Wig., p. 459 ; W, Malmsbury, p. 122.
(m) Sax. Chron., 189 ; Flor. Wig., 459 ; Sim. Dun., 218 ; Fordun, lib. v„ c. xx.-i.
(n) Boece. lib. xii. ; Lord Karnes's Essay on British Antiquities ; Lord Hailes An., v. i., p. 26-7 ;
Enquiry, 1789.
Ch. VII.— The Scots and Picts.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 42 1
statesman without policy : that he should have been able to maintain his inde-
pendence and the rights of his people, in opposition to two such antagonists
as William the Conquei'or and William Rufus, is a strong proof of his mag-
nanimous perseverance ; yet must it be remembered that, amid his struggles,
either of ambition or resentment, he lost that part of Cumbria which lay to
the southward of the Solway. A weaker prince would have lost his crown,
considering its unstableness ; and his country, allowing for its wildness.
The length of the reign of Malcolm ; the day of his death ; and even his
filiation, are disputed (a). During the reign of Malcolm, the Gaelic bard
finished his poem : " Malcolm a nosa asrigh :" Malcolm noio is king :"
" Mac-Donnchaidh datha drechbhi :" Mac-Duncan, the Jolly: "Mac-
Donnchaidh dreachruire : " Duncan's son, the celebrated figure ; and thus
the contemporary bard applied to Malcolm III. two epithets, the one implying
that he had a handsome person, and the other that he had a cheerful mind.
He is better known to history as Malcolm Ceanmore or great head.
Every point in the history of Scotland which is obscure, difficult, and un-
intelligible, has been referred by historians and lawyers, genealogists and
antiquaries, to the reign of Malcolm-Ceanmore for its origin ; because this.
period was heretofore in itself sulficlently dark, and its darkness equally con-
cealed both truth and falsehood. So much has been done for illustrating the
obscurities of this reign that it cannot hereafter be the refuge of ignorance, the
(a) See the Oliroiiological Table; Sax. Chron., p. 199 ; Flor. Wig., p. 459 ; Sim. Dun., p. 218 ;
and Fordun, 1. v., c. xxv. ; all concur in saying that Malcolm was slain on the day of St. Bricius ; so
Lord Hailes was right in fixing it on the 13th of November. Annals, v. i., p. 24 ; and consequently
the Enquirer, 1789, v. ii., p. 203, was wrong in placing the same event on the 6th of June, 1093.
This last writer has a peculiar conceit about the filiation of Malcolm, which is, that he was not
the son, but the grandson of the gracious Duncan. But for this notion there is not the smallest
foundation in any chronicle, or the slightest tradition of any age ; and we have already seen, from an
inquiry into the age of these two kings, that it was not possible, in the course of nature, that
Malcolm III. could be the grandson of Duncan. Florence, p. 416, indeed calls Malcolm regis
Cumbrorum filium ; as the same Florence has equally spoken of Malcolmus, rex Cumbrorum, in
973. Flor. Wig., p. 359. But for those times this was a very slight inaccuracy, as Duncan was
certainly regulus of Cumberland, who married Siward's sister, with whom he received, as her marriage
portion, twelve manors. These manors, which Malcolm enjoyed from bis father Duncan, had
been seized by WiUiam the Conqueror, were returned by his son at the peace of 1091 to Malcolm.
Flor. Wig., p. 457; Sim. Dun., p. 215. The Enquirer, 1789, v. ii., p. 234, only mistook the
Gaelic bard when he supposed that the Duan had given two different epithets to Duncan, so as
to imply that Duncan, the father of Malcolm HI., was not Duncan the king of Scotland. Malcolm
was probably bom about the year 1024, as we have seen, and was near seventy when he fell under
Alnwick castle.
422 A N AC C 0 U N T [Book UL—The Scottish Period.
shelter of self-sufficiency, or the reproach of system. Yet are we still con-
fidently told that Malcolm III. married, for his first wife, Ingibiorg, the
widow of Torfin, the earl of Caithness, by whom he had a son, Duncan, who
succeeded him in the throne (6). But Torfin, the son of Sigurd, by a
daughter of Malcolm II., was born in 1009 A.D., and died about the year
1074, aged sixty-five (c). Now it is certain that Malcolm III. married the
princess Margaret in 1070 ; and Duncan, the son of Malcolm, was given
as a hostage to the English, as we have seen, in 1072 A.D., when he must have
been fifteen years of age, as he was soon after knighted and obtained a com-
mand in the English army. Duncan, therefore, must have been born before
the accession of his father to the throne in 1057, and of course could not be
the son of Ingibiorg, who only became the widow of Torfin in 1074. Yet
Malcolm may have married Duncan's mother, whose name may have been
Ingibiorg, who may have been confounded with the widow of Toi-fin. Mal-
colm III. was probably thirty-three years of age at his accession, and it is
equally probable that he may have been married before that period, consider-
ing how early princes married in that age. He must have married of conse-
quence while he was an exile in the noi'th of England, and while he was yet
unknown to fame ; and from this obscure marriage may have sprung his
eldest son, Duncan, who has generally been regarded as a bastard (d).
Donal-bane, the brother of Malcolm III., assumed the difficult government
of his brother, according to the ancient usage of the Scottish nation, while he
must have been well advanced in life. At the demise of the late king, his
children were all under age. A Gaelic people gratified their national hate by
(b) Torfseus's Orcades, p. 65 ; Orkneyinga Saga, p. 99 ; Macpherson's Note on Wyntoun, v. ii.,
p. 472.
(c) Snorro, t. i., p. 352-3 ; Torfseus's Orcades, p. 33-65 ; Orkneyinga Saga, p. 5-87.
(d) William of Malmsbury was tlie first wlio applied to Duncan tlie epithet Nothus. p. 185.
He was followed by Fordun, 1. v., c. xxviii. ; who has been copied by Boece, 1. xii. ; by Buchanan,
1. vii. ; and by Lord Hailes. Annals, v. i., p. 44. The ancient Chronicles in Innes, No. iv.
and V. ; the Chron. Elegiacum ; the Irish Annals ; the Saxon Chron. ; Flor. Wig., p. 462 ; Sim.
Dun., p. 214-19 ; all speak of Duncan as the son of Malcolm, without applying to him any
debasing epithet. The Saxon Chron. and Florence, indeed, mention Edward, who was slain
with his father, as the eldest son of Malcolm III. In two charters of David I. to Dunfermline,
and in other grants, he calls Duncan " frater meus." In the dubious charter of Duncan to St.
Cuthbert, he calls himself " Ego Duncanus filius regis Malcolumb constans hereditarie : " and
he gave the lands " pro anima patris mei, et pro fratribus mei, et pro uxore mea, et pro infantibus
" meis." Edgar, Ms successor, is one of the witnesses to this supposed charter ; but Duncan
says nothing in it of his tnotfter. Diplom. Scotiae, pi. i. ; Smith's Bede, p. 7G0 ; Robertson's In-
dex, p. 152.
Ch. Nil.— The Scots and Picts.'] OFNOETH-BEITAIN. 423
expelling the English who had lived under the protection of Margaret and
Malcolm (e). Donal, however, did not long enjoy his good fortune, whatever
may have been his pretensions or his popularity.
Duncan,
The son of Malcolm, who first appeared as a hostage in 1072, and who after-
wards married Ethreda, the daughter of Gospatric, now served under Wil-
liam Rufus as a military commander (/), and besought the king of England
for leave to invade Scotland {g). Duncan entered Scotland with a numerous
band of adventurers, English and Normans, by whose assistance he easily
overturned the government of Donal, and assumed the sceptre which his
feeble hands were unable to support, without foreign aid. These events oc-
curred in May 1094 (h). Yet such was the general indignation against
foreigners, that the Scots obliged Duncan to engage that he would not again
introduce among them either English or French (i) ; and being unsupported
either by power or by popularity, Duncan was assassinated by Maolpeder,
the Maormor of the Mearns, at the instigation of his uncle Donal and his
brother Edmund {k). Thus Duncan only enjoyed a feverish and oppressive
reign of six months. Drawn into the Mearns, on whatever occasion of
business or pleasure, Duncan was slain by Maolpeder at Monachedin, on the
banks of the Bervie (I). An upright stone stills forms the unlettered memorial
(e) Sax. Chron., p. 199 ; Flor. Wig., p. 460.
(/) Sim. Dun., p. 203-6-10 ; Dug. Monasticon, v. i., p. 400 ; Crawford's Peerage, p. 309 ; Doug-
las Peerage, p. 438.
{g) Sax. Chron.. p. 199 ; Flor. Wig., p. 460 ; Sim. Dun., p. 219.
(Ji) Chron. in the Eeg. of St. Andrews ; Chron. Eytbm.; Chron. Elegiacum ; Lord Hailes' An., v. i.,
p. 45.
(i) Sax. Chron., p. 200; Flor. Wig., p. 463; Sim. Dun., p. 220.
(Jc) See the Chron. Table ; Ulster Annals, sub an., 1094 ; the Chron. No. 4 in Innes's App. ; the
Chron. in the Eegistev of St. Andrews ; the Chron. Elegiacum ; the Sax. Chron., and the Chron. of
Mailros, all concur in establishing that Duncan was assassinated in November, 1094. By following
Fordun, 1. v., ch. xxviii., by mistaking the Sax. Chron., and by oyerlooking the ancient Chronicles in
Innes, Lord Hailes has erroneously placed that atrocious event in Autumn 1095. Annals, v. i., p. 46.
Florence also states distinctly the assassination of Duncan in 1094.
{I) The Chron. in the Eegister of St. Andrews, in Innes. p. 803, says that Duncan was slain by Mal-
peder Macloen, in Monachedin. The Chronicon Elegiacum concurs with it. Fordvm, I. v., c. xxviii.,
repeats that Duncan was slain by Malpeder at Monathechin, alias Monythyne. This place is recog-
nized, by several chapters of the 13th and 14th centuries, as a barony on the Bervie river, in the
424 AnACCOUNT [Book in.—The Scottish Period.
of his odious end. Duncan left by his wife Ethreda a son, William, who
flourished under David I., and was sometimes surnamed Fitz-Duncan. He
married Alice, the daughter and heiress of Robert de Romely, the loi'd of Skip-
ton, and by her he had a son, who was popularly called the Boy of Egremont,
and who died under age ; and three daughters, who carried vast estates into
three of the greatest families in England (??i).
DONAL-BANB,
On the assassination of Duncan, with circumstances which sufficiently evince
the savage manners of the age and of the country, again seized the gory
Bceptre. Two years closed his career in misery. At length William Rufus,
commiserating the family of Malcolm, or perhaps fearing the irruptions of his
northern neighbours, allowed Edgar j^theling to assemble an army for their
relief Edgar marched into Scotland, overcame Donal, who seems to have been
surprised, and taken after a short conflict in September 1097 {n). The aged
king was imprisoned ; and being deprived of his eye-sight, according to the
Meams. William the Lion granted to tlie monastery of Arbroath one carucate of land in Monathen,
" super aquam de Bervie.'' Chart. Arbroath. Richard Frumit granted to the same monastery, •' ilia
terra in territorio de Monechethy, propinquam aqua de Bervie."' lb., 127-129. David 11. granted to
Walter Pitcarne the barony of Monethin, in the shire of Kincardine. Robertson's Index, p. 35-86.
By a retour, which is dated in 1560, it appears that the same family of Pitcarne possessed the same
lands by the name of Mondynes. The evidence, then, that those lands, which are bounded on three
sides by the Bervie water, are the same, amounts nearly to demonstration. See Mondynes on the river
Bervie, in Garden's Map of Kincardineshire. Near the house of " Mondynes, in a field, there still re-
" mains a large, rude, upright stone, six or eight feet above the ground, but without any carving or
" ornament." MS. Communication of Mr. Prof. Stuart of Aberdeen. Here, then, probability fixes the
scene of the murder, and the stone of Duncan. Yet Boece, Buchanan, and their followers, carry this
event, with the scandal resulting from it, into Monteith.
(to) Dugdale's Monast., p. 400 ; Dugdale's Bar, v. i., p. 89. William, the son of Duncan, succeeded,
as the heir of Allan, the son of Waldeve, the son of Gospatric. Dug. Monast., v. i., p. 400. But it is
not true, as Dugdale intimates, that William Fitz-Duncan was Earl of Mureve. His wife, even in her
widowhood, always call herself in her charters Alice de Romely. Dug. Monast., v. i., p. 400, &c. In
1187 there appeared, indeed, in the North of Scotland, Donalbane, the son of William, and grandson
of Duncan. Lord Hailes' Annals, v. i., p. 130, with his authorities. This person pretended a title
to the crown. He may have been the bastard son of William, the son of Duncan : he was probably
an imposter.
(n) Saxon Chron., p. 206. See the Chron. Table ; the Chron. No. 5 in Innes, p. 803, which
specially states the facts of the reign and death of Donal. The Chron. Eythmicum, and the Chron.
Elegiacum, concur generally with the former.
Ch. Vn.— TAe Scots and Picts.] OFNOETHBEITAIN. 425
odious policy of a barbarous age, died at Roscobie in Forfarshire. With him
may be said to have ended the series of the Scoto-Irish kings (o).
(o) Donal-bane had a son, Madach, who was the first earl of Athol during the reign of Alexander I.
Madach married a daughter of Haco, the earl of Orkney, by whom he had a son Madach, who had a
son Malcolm, who was earl of Athol in the reign of King William ; and Malcolm had a son Henry,
who died in the reign of Alexander II., without male issue. Torfaeus's Orcades, 1. i., c. xxii. ; Ork-
neyinga Saga, p. 176 ; Chart. Scone, No. i. ; Chart Dunfei-m. ; Dalrymple's Col., p. 378, .388. In
Torfaeus, and in the Orknejanga Saga, Donal is blunderingly called by the same name as his brother
Malcolm, whom they call Melkofr ; and from this mistake the editor of Wyntoun was misled to
suppose that Duncan had a third son named Melmare. Wyntoun, v. ii., p. 470. Kennedy, in his
Account of the Stewarts, p. 194, mentions, upon very slight authority, a third son of Duncan, named
Oberardus, who, after the murder of his father, fled into Norway, and afterwards settled in Provence.
John Cumyn, the lord of Badenoch, during the great competition for the crown, claimed the succession
as heir of Donal-bane through the female line. The genealogy which he gave in on that occasion is
more likely to contain the true descendants of Donal-bane than any loose intimations of ill-informed
writers, Eym. Foed., t. ii., p. 577.
Vol. I. 3 1
42G A N A C C 0 U N T. Book Ul.—The Scottish Period.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Ecclesiastical History during this Period.
AT the commencement of the Pictish Period, Christianity had been intro-
duced into North-Britain ; but we have seen during that Period neither the
estabhshment of the Church, nor the introduction of the Culdees into that
country, either from the east or from the west ; and we must look for those
interesting events in some subsequent period of greater certainty and more
civilization. If we might believe the life of Ninian, as the same has been col-
lected by the learned Usher, we ought to infer that he ordained presbyters,
consecrated bishops, and divided the whole land into certain parishes (a).
At the memorable epoch of the Union of the Picts with the Scots, the
bishopric of Lindisfarne extended far into Lothian (b). Long after the episco-
pate of Durham had succeeded to the church of Lindisfarne, Teviotdale continued
a part of that extensive diocese (c). In Lothian, the religious houses of Melrose,
of Coldingliam, of St. Balthar at Tyningham, of Pefferham, and of Abercorn,
had been long established (d). There is reason to believe, that as parishes had
been laid out in Northumberland, prior to the age of Bede, those ecclesiastical
(a) Primordia, p. 608. But whatever there may be in this loose assertion, certain it is that the
term Farochia signified, in early times, a much larger ecclesiastical district than a modem parish.
The provinces of bishops among the Britons were denominated Farochia, according to Gildas ; and
even Cowel infonns us that Farochia anciently signified the diocese of a bishop. Law Diet, in vo.
Parish ; and see Keuuet's Glossary to his Par. Antiquities in vo. Parochia, where the same ground is
taken.
(//) Smith's Bede, 1. iv., cap. xxvi., App. No. ii. ; Simeon of Durham, col. 69-139. Ecgred, the
bishop of Lindisfarne, who died in A.D, 8-15, built the two villages of Geddeworde and Geinforde, in
Roxburghshire, with the churches thereof, which he gave to the bishopric, with other towns. Anglia
Sacra, vol. i., p. 098.
(c) lb., p. 708.
(rf) Simeon of Durham, p. G9 ; Hoveden, p. 418.
Ch.YIII.— The Ecclesiastical History.] 0 F NOETH-BRIT AIN. 427
districts must have been equally settled in Lothian during the subsequent
century (e), since churches were built, and priests were appointed for adminis-
tering the accustomed rites of the Christian dispensation {/).
In Galloway, the bishopric of Whithorn had fallen amidst the distractions
of revolution in Northumberland, soon after the ninth century commenced.
There seems to have been an early connection between the Galloway Irish and
the monks of lona, as might easily be expected ; and the Galloway-men
derived the benefits of instruction from the religious teachers of that learned
establishment. This monastery certainly acquired the patronage of various
churches, which were built in this Gaelic country, during a rude but reli-
gious age. After the dissolution of lona, amid the savageness of the vikingr
reign, William the Lion granted to the monks of Holyrood the churches
and chapels in Galloway that had belonged to Icolmkill (g). In Cumbria,
throughout its whole extent, the episcopate of Kentigern seems to have existed
in the fond recollection of the Cumbrians, long after the founder and many of
his successors had perished amid the irruptions of paganism, and the savageness
of anarchy. In the mean time, many churches were dedicated to Kentigern,
and numerous lands were appropriated by the piety of the Cumhrenses to the
service of religion throughout the Cumbrian provinces, as we may perceive
by retrospect at the dawn of record (h). The Inquisitio attests that many
churches, with their appropriate districts, existed within the episcopate of Ken-
tigern, during the Scottish period.
In the United Kingdom, beyond the friths, there remained at the epoch of
the Union in 843 A.D., various cells which had been settled in early times
by Columbans ; and still continued the abundant fountains, whence flowed
religious instruction to a confiding people. One of the first acts of the reign of
Kenneth, was to show his respect for the memory of that Apostle of the Scots
and Picts, by building a church, wherein the reliques of the Saint were deposited
(«) See Wkitaker'a MaDchester, v. ii., p. 369.
(/) Anglia Sacra, v. i., p. 698.
(g) Sir Ja. Dalrymple's Coll., p. 271.
(A) See the curious Inquisitio Davidis. [In tlie Cliart. Glasguensis, and Dalrymple's Collections,
App. No. 1, and in Gibson's Hist. Glasgow.] The churches which are enumerated by the Inquisitio
lay in Strathclyde, Annandale, Nithsdale, Teviotdale, Tweeddale, in Galloway, and in the north-east
of Cumberland. There are, indeed, in Cumberland several churches which were dedicated to St.
Mungo, or Kentigern, as the founder of the Cumbrian episcopate. Hutchinson's Cumberland, vol. ii.,
p. 518. There were many other churches dedicated to St. Mungo throughout every district of North-
Britain.
3 12
42^ A N A C C 0 U N T [Book in.— The Scottish Period.
in A.D. 849 (0. The site of this sacred depository has not yet been fixed by
antiquai'ies. Yet, was it at Dunkeld where Kenneth built the church, which
he dedicated to Cokimba (AO. Thus Dunkeld and its church, became sacred
to Columba, who equally became the patron saint of both. A religious house
was here buUt, upon the same system as the original establishment at lona.
In it a bishop resided ; over it an abbot ruled ; and this seems to have been
the ecclesiastical plan of almost all the religious establishments in Nortli-
Britain, during the Scottish period. From the epoch of 848, the church of
Dunkeld appears to have formed the primacy of Scotland for several ages, till
it was supplanted in its turn by St. Andrews. The abbots of Dunkeld were
persons, as we have seen, of the first consequence (l). The first bishop of
(i) Chron. in Innes's App., No. 3 ; Smith's Life of Oolumba, p. 1.52. But lona was not held
sacred by the Danish pirates, who had not yet felt the influence of Christianity. The Ulster An-
nals are filled with their devastations on the isle, which was revered in Ireland, in Scotland, and
in Northumberland ; and the rellques of Columba were no longer safe at lona, which seems to
have been the marked object of the vikingr's rapacity. See the Ulster Annals, under the year
848, where Jurastach, the abbot of lona, is said to have brought Columcill's oaths, or sanctified
things, into Ii'eland, which is mistakingly put for Scotland, into which they were brought at this
epoch.
Ik) St. Columba's day has long been revered, and must for ever be remembered at Dunkeld,
as the patron saint of the place as well as of its cathedral. James FV. granted two charters to the
bishop and Church of Dunkeld, confirming sundry privileges to the town of Dunkeld, and grant-
ing an yearly fair at this place on the day after St. Columba's day. MS. Charters to the Reli-
gious Houses, p. 59, 60. The annual court of the Chapmen Society, which was established b)-
the chai'ter of James V., is held at this fair on the day after St. Columba's festival. Stat. Acco.,
V. XX., p. 433. One of James's charters runs : " Pro specialem devotionem, quam habemus glorio-
'■ sissima confessore Sancto Columbo dictae civitates patrono." The other runs: "Pro singulars
" devotione quam gerimus erga sanctum reverendum in Christo confessorem S. Columbam ecc/esia
cathedralis Dunkelden patroniim." As Columba died on the 9th of June, this day has heretofore been
celebrated, especially in Ireland, as a breviary of that country attests. Porter's Flowers of the Saints,
p. .564 ; Keith, p. 232.
(/) The Ulster Annals, under the year 865, state the death of Tuathal Mac-Fergus, the archbishop
of Fortren, and abbot of Dunkeld. The annalist merely means to speak of the primate by the florid
expression of archbishop. Under the year 872 the same annals state the death of Flavertach Mac-
Murtach, the primate of Dunkeld. The foregoing notices evince, in opposition to the claims of the
Register of St. Andrews, that Dunkeld long held the primacy of the United Kingdom, Duncha, the
abbot of Dunkeld, was slain at the battle of Duncrub, in attempting to dethrone Duff, Chron, No. 3,
in Innes ; and the Ulster Annals, under the year 964, assert that Crinan, the abbot of Dunkeld,
married Bethoc, the daughter of Malcolm II., and fell in battle during the year 1045, in a gallant
attempt to restore her grandson to the throne. Ethelred, the son of Malcolm III., was abbot of Dun-
keld. Crawfurd's Officers of State, p. 430.
Ch. VIII.— 77(6 Ecclesiastical Histori/.] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 429
Dunkeld, who came out conspicuously on the stage of life, was Cormac, who
appears under Alexander I. («i). Yet it is certain that there were bishops at
Dunkeld before the early age of Cormac.
If we might credit the legend, there was founded by Hungus, the Pictish
king, who died in 833 A.D., a religious house at Mucros, Kil-rymond, or
Kil-rule, the church of Regulus, who brought the reliques of St. Andrew to
the promontory of Swine (n). If we might believe tradition, we ought to regard
Kenneth, the conqueror of the Picts, as the founder of the see of St. Andrews.
Yet is there reason to believe that this diocese was founded during the rule
of Grig, who ceased to reign in 893 (o). The bishops whose names and
whose festivals the zeal of Innes has collected, seem to have existed in some
prior reigns (p). But Kellach, who was the first bishop of any determinate
see, performed his episcopal functions at the demise of Grig. He continued to
discharge those duties under Donal IV. and Constantin III., and in 909 A.D.,
he held an ecclesiastical council on the Mote-hill of Scone, where Constantin
and Kellach swore to maintain the faith and discipline of the Scotican
church (q). Kellach was succeeded by Fothad, who was expelled by Indulf,
(m) Cormac, the bishop of Dunkeld, was a witness to the charter of Scone in 1115; and he
witnessed another charter of the same king to the same monastery. Cormac is also a witness to two
charters of David I. to the monastery of DunfeiTaline. Pref. to Keith's Bishops, p. ix. ; Chart, of
Scone ; Sir J. Dalrymple's Col., p. 373 ; MS. Charters in my library.
(n) See the Legend, in the Eegister of St. Andrews. Mucros appears to have been the ancient name
of the promontory whereon was founded the city of St. Andrews. The origin of the name of Mucros
is doubtful. Mug-ros means the holy promontory ; Jfuch-i-os signifies the promontory of smo/^e ;
Muc-ross denotes the stvine's promontory. In fact a large district which lies around St. Andrews is
still known by the name of the Boar-chase ; a considerable village and adjacent lands in the parish are
called the Boar-hills ; and the arms of the city are a Boar leaning on a tree. Kil-ri-monadh, in the
Gaelic, signifies the cell or church on the King's moor. Kil-rule, in this language, signifies the cell
or church of St. Rule or Eegulus. The Gaelic people of North-Britain apply the name of Kil-rule to
the town of St. Andrews even in the present times.
(o) The Register of St. Andrews, which is obviously partial to Grig, says: "Et hie primus
"dedit libertatem ecclesise Sootticanae quae sub servitute erat usque ad illud tempus ex constitu-
"tione [consuetudine] et more Pictorum." Innes, App. No. 5, p. 801. The Chronicon Elegia-
cum, copying the Register of St. Andrews, also states, under Grig : " Qui dedit ecclesise libertatis
" Scoticanse, qui sub Pictorum lege redacta fuit." These imitations seem to attest that Grig
either formed a church establishment at St, Andrews, or granted some privileges to the Scotican
church.
{p) See before. Book II., Ch. V.
{q) Chron. No. 3, in Innes, p. 785, and also p. 558 ; and the same Chronicon in the Enquiry, 1789.
V. i., p. 493 ; wherein this curious passage is more fully stated than in Innes.
430 AnACCOUNT [Book III— r^e Scottish Period.
in 953, and died under Duff in 962 (?•). After Fothad followed a succession
of bishops in the see of St. Andrews, till the commencement of the Scoto-
Saxon period introduced a new system of ecclesiastical affairs (s). There was
a religious house at St. Andrews as well as an episcopal seat. Like other
monasteries, that establishment formed originally the residence of the bishop (t).
It was to this house that Constantin III. retired, when fatigued with the in-
firmities of age and the savageness of the times, he resigned his sceptre to
Malcolm I. during the year 944, and assumed the staff. Here the aged king
acted as abbot of the Culdees, and at the end of five years, finished his joyless
career in this dreary pile (u).
At Brechin, also, there was a religious house, which, according to the custom
of the age and of the country, equally formed the seat of a bishop. It owed
its establishment to the piety or contrition of Kenneth III. (x). This monastery
was filled with Culdees, who were ruled by an abbot ; and in the progress of
ecclesiastical establishments, Brechin formed the see of a bishop long before the
end of the Scottish period (y).
At Dunblane there was also a religious house, which was early in this
period settled with the usual establishment of Culdees, and formed into the
seat of a bishop, according to the accustomed practice (z).
(»•) Oliron. No. 3, in Innes, p. 787.
(«) Fothad was succeeded by Malisius, wto died in 970 A.D., the last year of Culen. lb., p. 788.
Malisius was succeeded by Kellach II., the son of Ferdulaig, in 971, and after he had governed the
see five-and-twenty years, died under Kenneth V. in 996. Id. Kellach was succeeded first by
Malisius, and afterwards b}' Malmerius, who died in 1031 a.d. Alwin, who succeeded, ruled this see
during troublous times, and died in 1061. Tuthal, who followed him, died in 1065 ; he was suc-
ceeded by Fothald, who died at the same time with Malcolm-Ceanmore in 1093. The Ulster Annals
state, under this year 1093, the death of Fothad, the archbbhoj) of Scotland. After him were suc-
cessively elected, though not consecrated, Gregory, Cathar, and Godric, between the years 1093 and
1107, when the celebrated Tnrgot became bishop of St. Andrews. Euddiman's Introduction to
Anderson's Dipl., p. 16-19.
(t) Under the year 872 the Ulster Annals state the death of " Bishop Colman, the abbot of St.
"Andrews."
(w) The Chron. No. 3, in Innes, p. 786, says he outlived his abdication ten years. The Chron. in
the Register of St. Andrews says that Constantin, at the end of Jive years, died and was here buried ;
and with this concur the Ghi-onicon Elegiaoum, and Usher's Prim., p. 59.
(x) The Chron. No. 3, in Innes, says of Kenneth, whose life satiated the revenge of Finella in 994 :
"Hie est qui tribuit magnam civitatem Brechen domino. "
{y) Keith's Bishops, p. 92. That there was a bishop established among the Culdees at Brechin
before the erection of the bishopric by David I., is certain from his charter of erection, which was
granted, "Episcopo, et Keledeis, in ecclesise de Brechen." Dalrymple's Col., p. 219.
(j) Keith's Bishops ; Chart, of Cambuskenneth ; and Crawfurd's OfScers of State, p. 6. St. Blaan
was the patron, as he was the chief of this religious establishment, being a bishop here about 1000
A.D. Keith's Bishops, p. 100.
Cb. YLll.—The Ecclesiastical Histor;].'] OfNORTH -BRITAIN. 431
At Abernethy, the ancient metropolis of the Picts, there was in an early
age a religious house, which, according to the Gaelic practice, was soon made
the see of a bishop, though it never formed a regular bishopric (z).
Soon after the battle of Murtlach, in 1010 A.D., a religious house was
founded by Malcolm II., near the scene of his victory over the invaders of his
people (a). Like other monasteries in that age, this establishment at Murtlach,
became the residence of a bishop ; and the inaccurate writers of the middle
ages, from this circumstance, suppose a regular bishopric was here established
at that early period (6). The fact, however, appears to be, as hath been already
intimated, that a religious house was endowed with some lands, wherein a
bishop fixed his residence, for the performance of the episcopal functions among
a rude people ; but a regular episcopate was not formed till a subsequent age,
which was more congenial to such establishments. Beyn was certainly the first
bishop of Mortlach, and he is said to have been consecrated by Benedict VIII.,
who ruled the Catholic Church from 1012 to 1024 a.d. (c). There appears
also to have been a religious house and a bishop at Aberdeen, in early times.
St. Machar, as he was the patron of the establishment, was prol^ably the first
bishop {d) ; and all those churches with the revenues belonging to them,
were formed by the reforming hand of David I. into the bishopric of
Aberdeen (e).
(z) The Ulster Annals, under the year 864, speak magnificently of the death of Tuathal, the aroh-
bishup of Fortren or Abernethy.
(a) Of Malculm II., who reigned from 1003 to 1033 a.d., the Chronicon, No. 4 in Innes, says, "Ipse
etiam multus oblationes tarn ecolesias quam clero ea die distribuit."
(6) Fordun, 1. iv., c. Ixiv. The supposed charter of foundation by Malcolm to Bishop Beyn, which
is set forth with all the distinctness of truth by Sir J. Dalrymple in his Coll., p. 13o, may be regarded,
however, as a palpable forgery.
(f) Fordun, 1. iv., c. xliv. ; and Boece, in the History of the Bishops of Aberdeen, gives a regular
series of the bishops of Mortlach from Beyn to Donort. from him to Cormac, arid from Cormac to
Nechtan, who certainly lived under David I.
(d) In the Scotican church the festival of St. Machar was held on the 12th of November.
(e) The charter of David I., which accomplished this policy, with other documents, were unfortun-
ately destroyed. There happily remains, however, a genuine bull of Adrian IV., who ruled the church
from 1154 to 1159. This Pope confirms to Edward, the bishop of Aberdeen, with other churches,
lands, and revenues, " Villam et monasterium de Muvthkw/i, cum quinque ecclesiis et terris eisdem
pertinentibus," and also " Monasterium de Cloveth," Chart. Aberdeen. In the Taxatio of the
churches in the 13th century, the church of Mortlach, with those of Cloveth and Dumeth, which be-
longed to it, are included in the bishopric of Aberdeen, and are classed in the deanery of Mar, thougli
they are not locally situated in that district, Chartulary of Arbroath. Those genuine documents
support the facts that are stated in the text.
432 A N A C C 0 U N T Book III.— ^Ae Scottish Period.
Thus much, then, with regard to bishops and episcopates, during those early
ages. The United Kingdom of the Picts and Scots was formed under the
reo-imen of parishes, though neither the times, nor the circumstances of this
formation can be clearly ascertained amidst the gloom which hangs over the
Scotican church during the Scottish period. We may easily suppose that those
ecclesiastical districts were gradually established subsequent to the great epoch
of 843 A.D. They were pretty generally settled during the Scottish period,
though they were inconveniently large. They were established by private per-
sons rather than by public authority ; but that parishes existed during the
reign of Malcolm-Ceanmore, is undoubtedly certain from unquestionable re-
cords {/).
It seems equally certain, amidst so much doubt, that when churches were
erected, parishes laid out, and parochial duties were statedly performed, eccle-
siastical dues must have been incidentally paid. In the charters of Alexander
and of David, tithes are mentioned as if they were familiarly known and had
been long established (g). It is certain that tithes were paid to the clergy
(y) See the charters to tlie monastery of Scone by Alexander I. Chart of Scone ; and particularly
the charter of David I. to the monastery of Dunfermline, wherein he says : " Preterea pater mens et
" mater mea dederunt ecclesise, sanctae trinitatis Parocliiam totam Fotherif, et sic concedo." But Schira
is the common expression in that charter for a parish. MS. Charters, p. 105 ; Dalrymple's Col., App.
No. 3. See Spelman's Gloss, in vo. Sc/iira, and Cowel in vo. Parochia.
(g) There is an assize of David I., who died in 1153, which enforces the payment of tithes as an
established right. Chartulary of Moray. There is a charter of the same king to the prior of Weth-
eral, in Cumberland, giving to that priory the tithes of the village of Sooteby, " Sicut ab antique data
eis fuit." Dugdale's Monast., t. i., p. 399. David I. granted a charter commanding the payment of
tithes to the monks of Rindalgros. Chart, of May, No. 10. There is, in the Chartulary of Glasgow,
a charter of Malcolm IV., " De decimis solvendis. He enjoins all his people, Normans, English,
Scots, Welsh, and Galloway-men, to pay their tithes and other ecclesiastical dues, which the law of
God enjoins to be paid. Chart. Glasgow, p. 203 ; and this was followed and enforced by a charter of
King William to the same purpose. lb., 205. Malcolm IV. granted a charter commanding the tithe
of fish, caught about the Isle of May, to be paid to the monks of May. Chart. May, No. 15. This
was followed by a charter of King William to the same purpose. Yet, says Forbes, " the learned
" Craig will have the custom of tithing among us to be much of a date with the famous Lateran
Council, in 1179." Forbes's Treatise on Tithes, 1705, p. 228-31 ; Craig on Feuds, book i. But why
would not the learned Craig look into the records of his own country ? If he had he would not have
been so positive " that the first payment of tithes among us (the Scots), was merely the effect of
" episcopal t3Tanny, introduced about the twelftli century." To see a progress in knowledge is always
pleasant. " The right of tithes,'' says Erskine, " appears to have been received with us as far
" back as David I., by two charters of that king in Anderson's Diplomata. Our first statute con-
'• cerning teinds [tithes], is David II., ch. xlii." Institutes, p. 226. The more diligent Erskine,
however, did not advert that tithes had been granted to the monks of Scone by Alexander I,
Ch. VIII.— r/(e Ecclesiastical Ilistonj.'] OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 433
during the reign of Malcolm -Ceanmore ; it is probable that such ecclesiastical
dues were payable as early as 910 a.d., when Constantin the king and Kellach
the bishop solemnly vowed to observe the faith, the discipline, and the rights
of the churches Qi). To that era then, if not to the prior reign of Grig, may
probably be traced back the payment of tithes and other ecclesiastical dues
within the United Kingdom {i).
(Chartulary Scone, No. 1, Stormont copy); and enforced by an assize of David I., whicli was in fact
a statute.
(/«) Cliron. No. 3 in Innes, p. 785 ; Wilkins's Concilia, v. i., p. 204, from tlie Colbertine MS. ;
Enquiry, 1789, v. i., p. 49.3.
(i) The probability, wLicb is mentioned in the text, is carried up to certainty by the fact.
Fothald, the bishop of St. Andrews from 1065 to 1093, gi-anted to St. Servan and the monks
of Loch-Leven the church of Hurkendorach, with the accustomed privileges and dues: "Iste
"sunt, saith the Eegister, antique prestationes et canones quas prefate ecclesie solvebant a?i<j(^i/i<M»;
" sciz, triginta panes decoctos, cum antiqua mensura farine ibi apposita. triginta caseos, quorum
" quilibet facit clindreme, et octo male de braseo, et derchede-m«/e, et chedher-wrt/e." This is a
very curious but obscure extract from the Eegister of the Prior}' of St. Andrews. Crawf. Off,
of State, p. 431 ; Eud. Introd. Dipl. Scot., § 18. It is apparent, however, that all those presta-
tions wore customary dues of ancient times before the age of Fothald, the word canon being fomierly
used for any prestation, pension, or customarj' payment. Cowel in vo. Canon and Dufresne.
The Chndreme is the Irish Ctidthrom, the (t/i) being quiescent, which signified lueiffht. Shaw's Diet. ;
Macfarlane's Vocab., p. 85. So Clach-av-cudrim means literally a stune-weight ; punt-ar-c((cZnni,
a pound-iveiijht. Macdonald's Gael. Vocabulary, p. 120. David I. granted to the monastejy of
Cambuskennoth, " viginti cndremox caseis," out of his rents in Strivliiig. Chart. Cumbus.. No. 54 ;
Nimmo's Stirling, App. No. 1. This grant was confirmed by Malcolm IV., by King William,
and by Pope Celestine, in 1195; but they call the Chndreme "viginti cudrimis casei." Chart.
Cambus., No. 29, 54, 56. Alexander II. made an exception of the said Ctidreme, which he per-
sonally struck out of his charter by the name of " viginti ciidrini casei," for which the monastery
was promised satisfaction in some other way. lb., No. 57. He, indeed, granted to that monas-
tery " viginti toivf/all [rather cowgall] casei," to be received yearly from the Jirm of his lands of
Tullymurthac, b}' the hands of his sheriff of Stirling, " pro viginto ctidrinis caseis," which the same
house was wont to receive of the baillie of Strivling, under the grant of David. lb.. No. 229. As
this grant is entitled, "Donatio centum petrarum casoi," it is apparent that the Towijall or Cowgall.
which I never met in any other place, was some weight equal to five stone. The Male seems
also to be a Celtic term for some payment ; Mai, in the Irish, signifies a rent, a tribute, a tax.
O'Brien's Diet. The British Mael has a similar signification ; and the British Mai signifies
money, or coin, or tribute. Davies and Eichard's Diet. The British Mael also signifies a hol-
low vessel of wood, a milk tray, a vessel of earth or wood to hold milk in a dairy-house. Id.
See Spelman, Dufresne, Cowell, in vo. Maille. The Scottish law has at this day its mails and
its duties. There was an inquest in the 20th of Edward III., within the county of Lancashire,
whereby the jury found certain profits called "Cow-male," and " Geese-;/(a/e. ' Cowell in vo.
Mailc. To those Lancashire males may be opposed the Barley-wiaZe, the Derchede-ma/e, and the
Cheier-male, of the Eegister of St. Andrews. There was also an ancient customary payment,
which is mentioned by the name of Cnneveth, or first fruits. See an account of it among the
terms of the law, ch. ix.
Vol. I. 3 K
434 A K A C C 0 IT N T [Book IH.— The Scottish Period.
Yet the secular clergy seldom or never appear in the Scottish history during
the Scottish period. The bishops, indeed, and the abbots, appeared very con-
spicuous ; and the Culdees we shall discover in their cells, though their origin
be extremely obscure. They were neither mentioned by Bede, nor known to
Nennius, nor acknowledged by Adamnan. Yet were not the Culdees peculiar
to North-Britain. They were equally recognised by the same name in the
ecclesiastical systems of Ireland {k), of Wales (/), and of England {m).
The Culdees were undoubtedly monks in all those countries, as the name
implies, though they acquired their distinguished appellation at different epochs
in those several nations («)• In the United Kingdom of the Picts and Scots,
the name seems to have been unknown, if we may determine from the silence
of Bede, of Nennius, and of Adamnan, till the establishment of a monastery at
St. Andrews ; and here were they first distinguished by the significant name
of Culdees (o). They were obviously an oi-der of Celtic monks who performed
the functions of secular priests among the Celtic people under a Celtic govern-
ment, as the faith and discipline of the church had come down to them from
Constantin and Kellach.
Of Culdees, there existed in North-Britain, during the Scottish period, reli-
gious houses at Abernethy, Dunkeld, St. Andrews, Dunblane, Brechin, Moi't-
lach, Aberdeen, Monymusk, Loch-leven, Portmoak, Dunfei^mline, Scone, and
at Kirkcaldv. This form of a religious establishment seems to have existed
'O'
Qc) Ware's Antiq. by Harris, p. 236 ; Usher's Prim., p. 637 ; Ledwicli's Antiq. of Ireland,
p. 55, 66.
(/) Geraldus Itin. Camb., v. ii., p. 6.
(in) Dugdale's Monast. Ang., v. ii., p. 366-7 ; Llo3-d's Churcli Gov., ch. vii.
()j) Their name was probably derived from the notion of their retreat and seclusion. In the Welsh,
Cel, which means shelter, a hiding, would form the name in the plural, thus : C'elydi, Celi/diaud,
Gelydion, Celi/dwi/s. In the Gaelic, Ciddee signifies a monk, a hermit ; the name of Cuildeach is
commonly given at this day, says the learned and reverend Dugal Campbell of the Isle of Mull, to
persons who are not fond of society. Stat. Account, v. xiv., p. 200. In the Gaelic also, Cei/e signifies
a servant ; hence Ceile-de, tlie servants of God, de being the genitive of Dia, God. See O'Brien's Diet,
in vo. The topography of North-Britain does not throw any light on the obscure name of the Culdees,
as there does not appear to be any appellation in the maps of Scotland which bears the least analogy
to the Culdean monks.
(o) Eegister of St. Andrews. The first authentic notice of the Culdees is in a charter of David I.
There is no mention any where of Culdees till after the year 800. Lloyd's Ch. Gov., ch. vii. They
were first brought upon the obscure scene of Scottish history by. Fordun. Sir James Dalrymple says
that Bishop Lloyd rashly asserts the Culdees to have been a monkish dream. Dalrymple Col., p. 279.
The Bishop only spoke contemptuously concerning "that monkish dream of an ancient church govem-
"ment in Scotland by Presbyters." Church Gov., ch. vii.
C\\.Ylll.—TheEcdemasticalli:>iwrij.'\ OfNOETH-BEITAIN. 435
among the Picts and Scots, even fiora the age and example of Columba.
During the Pictlsh jseriod there'was endowed at Abernethy, a religious house,
■vvliich was dedicated to Brigid. Here it long flourished in usefulness, under
the ^latronage of the Scottish kings; and here the Culdees continued till they
were suppressed in the thirteenth century, after religious novelty had removed
many ancient foundations (e). 2. Dunkeld owed the erection of a religious
house to the pious gratitude of Kenneth, the son of Alpin. It immediately as-
sumed the form, whicli was known and practised within the united kingdom,
during that age. The house was filled with Culdees, who were governed by an
abbot ; and with them resided a bishop, who performed independently the func-
tions of his office. The abbots of Dunkeld, for many ages, acted a conspicuous
part in the bloody scenes of the Scottish government ; and the monastery
with the Culdees and their abbot, continued amidst many reforms, till the
maiden reign of Malcolm IV. {m). 3. At St. Andrews, a religious house with
(e) William the Lion conferred on liis favourite monks of Arbroath the church of Abernethy,
with the several chapels and lands belonging to it : " Cum medietatem omnium decimarum
" pervenientium ex propria abbatis de Abernethy, quarum alteram, medietatem habuerunt Keledei
" de Abernethy : et prefer decimas de dominio ipsius abbatis quas Keledei de Abernethy habere
'•' solebunt." Chartulai-y of Arbroath, No. G3. Such a disposition of such rights necessarily
produced dispute. A lawsuit ensued, which was long agitated as well in the King's court- as in
the judicatories of the bishop of Dunblane, between the prior and Ouldees of Abernethy, and the
abbot and monks of Arbroath. At length Abraham, the bishop of Dunblane, after consulting
lawyers, gave judgment against the Culdees, in presence of Brice, king William's judge ; and
both parties swore to the perpetual observance of this adjudication. Id., Keith's Bishop's, Pref.. p.
15, IG.
(m) The establishment of a regular bishopric at Dunkeld, by the projecting policy of David I.,
does not seem to have affected the prior rights of the Culdees and their abbot, who continued to
act as the dean and chapter of this episcopate. It is supposed, though without foundation, that the
Culdees were expelled by David I. to make room for a bishop at Dunkeld ; but, as we have seen,
a bishop already existed there when that rational refoimer reinvigorated the episcopate. Dalrym-
ple's Coll., p. 244 ; Lord Hailes's Annals, v. i., p. 95 ; Keith's Bishops, Pref., p. 9. After that event
David I. granted to the favourite monks of Dunfermline, " Octavam partem de omnibus placitis et
" lucris meis de Fife, et de Fotherif, exceptis rectitudinibus que abbate de Dunkeld pertinent," &c.
MS. Monast. ; Scotiae, p. 105. Yet David I. gave to Andrew, bishop of Caithness, this monastery,
with its pertinents. After the death of Andrew, Malcolm IV. granted to the monastery of Dunferm-
line, " Ecclesiam Sancte Trinitatis de Dunkelden cum terris ad illam pertinen. et cum aliis rectis
pertinentijs suis," &c. This grant was confirmed by a charter of James II. Id., Dal. Col., 247-8.
This abbey of Dunkeld is mentioned neither by Spotiswoode nor by Keith, among the religious
houses of Scotland. The ai-morial bearings of the town of Dunkeld have been blazoned, with a
view to the dedication of its church to Columba : " Sable a dove argent, holding in its beak an olive
" branch proper : the shield is surrounded with a ribbon, or, whereon is written Caledonia, and in
4K2
436 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— The Scottish Period.
its usual concomitants, existed when tiie union of the Scots and Picts took
place. The abbots here were also distinct, and they had the honour to
enumerate several kings in their hst (n). Here the Culdees maintained then-
purity and usefulness for many an age (o). A priory was founded at this
ancient seat by Alexander I., and canons regular were introduced here in
1140 by Robert, the bishop of St. Andrews (p). 4. At Brechin, as we have
seen, a religious house was settled as early as 994 a.d. (q). The Culdees of
the monastery of Brechin continued for many ages to act as the dean and
chapter of this episcopate, and they seem not to have been reformed by the
introduction of canons regular, till the recent accession of Robert Bruce (?■).
5. The religous house at Dunblane is of very ancient foundation, as we have
seen. The Culdees and their Prior retained possession, and here performed
theu- functions, during several ages of reform. They wei-e superseded, how-
ever, by canons regular, some time befoi-e the middle of the thirteenth cen-
tury (a). 6. A religious house, which was dedicated to St. Servan, was erected
" the bottom part of the shield is a thistle proper. The whole is encircled with two palm branches
" vert." MS. Cumin.
(li) Constantin III., in 'JH a.d. ; and the king of A'cliath, who died here in a.d. 10.33. Ulster An-
nals, 944-1933 A.D.
(o) After the introduction of the canons regular, in 1140 a.d., they joined the Culdees, who acted
before, as the dean and chapter, in the election of the bishops. In 1272 the canons regular began to
make the elections alone; but against this exclusion the Culdees appealed to the Pope in 1297, yet
without success. Keith's Bishops, Pref., p. 8, and p. 13, 14-237. In the Eeg. of St. Andrews, Part
i., No. 6, there is recorded '• Decisio controversise inter Keledeos et episcopum [St. Andrese] de juria-
" dictione agri per T. Eanulphum Guardlanum cltra mare Scotticum, an° 1309."' And No. 11 is
" Petitio Keledeorum et subjectio eorum episcopo St. Andreae." Eeg. of St. Andrews ; Dalrymple's
Col., p. 284.
(j)) Keith's Bishops, p. 237.
(q) Chron. No. 3 in Innes, p. 788.
(r) Chartulary of Arbroath. The prior of the Culdees at Brechin is a witness to many charters.
Id. The prior and Culdees here gave many charters confirming the grants of the bishops of Brechin
to the monks of Arbroath. Id. ; Keith's Bishops, Pref., p. 11, wherein Maelbryde, the prior, and the
Culdees, are called the chapter of the church of Brechin : " Maelbryde, prior et Keledei ceterique de
capitulo Brechynensis ecclesise." Id. Maelbryde was succeeded by Mathew as prior of the Culdees
here, and Mathew issued a writ " ad visitandas ecclesias," as prior of the Culdees. Chartulary of Ar-
broath, No. 187. The Culdees of Brechin were superseded by canons regular before the year 1308.
Dalrymple's Coll., 249.
(s) The prior and Culdees of Dunblane were frequent witnesses to the grants of the bishops
of this see. Malpol, the prior, and Michael and Malcolm, Culdees, were witnesses to a charter
of bishop Simon, at the end of the twelfth century. Crawfurd's Officers of State, p. IG. Cormac
Malpol, the prior of the Culdees, witnessed a charter of 'William, the bishop of Dunblane (from
Ch. VIII.— r/jc Ecclesiastical History.^ OfNOET II -BRITAIN. 437
in the earliest times, on an islet in Loch-Leven (<). Successive kings, Mac-
beth, Malcolm III., and Edgar, and his brother Ethelred, with the bishops
Maldwin and Modoch, were all studious to endow the Culdees of Locli-
Leven (v). Here they performed their usual functions till the reforming hand
of David I. fell upon them. To the priory of St. Andrews this pious prince
gave the monastery of St. Servan with the island of Loch Leven ; and with an
intimation that if the Culdees would live peaceably they should be protected,
but if they should resist the royal grant, that they would be expelled the holy
isle of Servan («). The Culdees were expelled, though it is not easy to ascer-
tain the time and circumstances of that event, which arose from the violence
of the canons, and the connivance of the bishop, who usually supported the
canons against the Culdees (w). 7. At Portmoak, on the eastern margin of
Loch-Leven, and the northern efflux of the Leven river, there was founded,
during the ninth centuiy, by Ungus the Pictish king, a religious house (x).
Here the Culdees, under the usual I'ule of their abbot, performed their ac-
customed functions for many a savage reign. They were reformed durmg
1210 to 1220), to the Monastery of Cambus-Kenneth. Chart, of Cambus., No. 127. Keith supposes
the Culdees to have been superseded in 1240 by a mandate of Gregory IX. Keith's Bishops, Pref. x.,
and p. 100. But there is a charter of the dean and chapter of Dunblane, confirming to the monks of
Cambuskenneth the kirks of Kincardine, Tulybody, and Tulycultry, &c., dated the 3rd of the kalends of
February, 1239.
[t) Keith's Bishops, p. 237. The Register of St. Andrews relates that Brude, the king of the Picts,
gave the island of Loch-Leven to St. Servan and the Culdees.
(v) Macbeth gave the Culdees the lands of Kirkness, and also the village of Bolgy. Malcolm
m. and his pious queen granted them the town and lands of Balchristie. From Edgar they got
Pitnemokin. Ethelred gave them the lands of Admore. Malduin, the bishop of St. Andrews,
granted them the church of Scone ; and from Fothald, the bishop of St. Andrews, they got the church
of Hm'kendorach. Reg. of St. Andrews. David I. granted to the monks of Dunfermline, " Balchristie
'•■ cum suis rectis divlsis, excepta rectitudine quam Keledei habere debent." MS. Charters, 104. A
dispute ensued between the prior and canons of St. Andrews, who came in the place of the Culdees,
and the monks of Dunfermline, about their lespective rights to Balchristie. King WilUam determined
that the monks of Dunfei-mline should have Balchristie, subject to the rights which the Culdees had in
it during the reign of David I. Charty. of Dunfermline ; Dalr3rmple"s Coll., p. 283. The church of
Alva, in Stirlingshire, was dedicated to St. Serf. In 1272 Alexander Dominus de Strivehng granted
to the church Sancti Servani de Alveth an acre of land in the manor of Alveth. Chart. Cambus-
Kenneth, No. 15.
(?«) Diplom. Scotise, pi, 12.
(w) Spotiswoode, p. 417 ; Keith's Bishops, p. 237.
(a;) See the Maps for the site ; and the Stat. Acco,, vol. v., p. 171. Spotiswoode and Keith erro-
neously place the monastery of Port-moak on St. Servan's isle, so as to confound it with the prioiy of
Loch-Leven.
I
438 An account IBooklll.— The .■^cuttlsh Period.
the general reformation of the worthy David. They, too, became the prey of
the prior and canons of St. Andrews, though the time and circumstances of
the depredation cannot now be ascertained. 8. The splendid abbey of Dun-
fermline owed its inconsiderable foundation to Malcolm Ceanmore, its comple-
tion to Alexander I., and its reform to David I. The monastery of Dunferm-
line was dedicated, like the other Culdean establishments, to the Holy Trinity.
Here the Culdees with their abbot, discharged their usual duties during se-
veral reigns ; and David I., who lived much with Henry I. of England, upon
his accession, introduced among the Celtic Culdees thirteen English monks
from Canterbury (y). 9. We may easily suppose that when the fatal stone was
transferred by Kenneth, the son of Alpin, from Argyle to Scone, a religious
house would be established at this ancient metropolis. A Culdean church was
here dedicated in the earliest times Ho the Holy Trinity, like other Culdean
monasteries (z). The Culdees were at length reformed in 1115 a.d., by Alex-
ander L, who " dismissed the Culdean churchmen, and committed the cus-
" tody of the church of Scone to canons regular of St. Augustine," with a
prior at their head (a). 10. At Monymusk, in Aberdeenshire, there was also,
in ancient times, an establishment of Culdees. Here, with their prior, they
performed their usual functions for many ages without complaint. The su-
perintendance of this house was transferred by David I., while he panted for
reform, to the bishop of St. Andrews. The several pretentions of the depend-
ant and superior soon produced controversies. These disputes were settled
by a reference from Innocent III. in 1212 ad., which gave them a new consti-
tution (6). Yet did the bishop of St. Andrews, in opposition to a solemn
promise, suppress those Culdees, and place canons regular in their room at
Monymusk, which became thenceforth a ceU of the priory of St. Andrews (c).
(y) Spotiswoode, p. 436 ; and Keitli, p. 240.
(z) Buclianan and others state that there was at Scone an establishment of Culdees before the age of
Alexander I. Spotiswoode, p. 414 ; Keith, 236. The charter of Alexander I. attests the fact. Chart.
Scone, No. 1 ; Dalrymple's Col. App., No. 2.
(a) Chron. Melrose ; Dalrymple's Col., p. 374-5.
{q) The deed of settlement is in the Chartulary of Aberdeen, No. 9. By this settlement the
number of Culdees was fixed to twelve, with a prior. They were to have one refectory, one dormi-
tory, one oratory, with a cemetery in the church of Monymusk. Their elections of the prior were to
be made by choosing three of their own number, out of whom the bishop was to elect a superior. The
Culdees were not to become canons regular without the consent of the bishop. They were restricted
as to the holding or acquiring of lands ; and the bishop promised, for himself and for his successors,
that the Culdees should in future enjoy the privileges which had thus been settled by the Pope's
referees.
(c) Spotiswoode, p. 417-18 ; Keith, 238.
Cli. YLll.—The Ecchsiasticul Tlistor)/.'] OfNORTH-BEITAIN. 439
11. In addition to all those Culdean houses, there appears to have been an
establishment of the Culdees at Kirkcaldy, in Fife ; whence the place was
named Kil-celedei, which was changed during the Scoto-Saxon period to KirJc-
caledie (d).
Such then were the originals, the nature, and the end, of the Culdees in
North-Britain. Yet system has concurred with ignorance in supposing that
the Culdees were peculiar to the united kingdom of the Picts and Scots, and
actually possessed rights, and exercised powers, which were inconsistent with
the established laws of the universal Church in that age(e). A retrospective
view of ecclesiastical history, from the epoch of the introduction of Christianity
into North-Britain, would show to a discerning eye that the doctrines, liturgical
forms, and the monkish discipline of the Britons, the Irish, the Scots, and
the Picts, were extremely similar ; as all those people were indeed con-
generous (0).
The church judicatories of Noi'th-Britain, during the Scottish period, are
involved in the same obscurity which covers and confounds her general his-
tory. If any one were disposed, indeed, to regard as genuine the Macalpin laws,
which are recorded by Fordun and recited by Boece, he must equally believe
with Innes, that the first national council of the Scottish Church was convened
by the son of Alpin (/). But the MacAlpin laws, as they have been published,
are undoubtedly spurious. Grig is said, by the ancient chroniclers, to have
established the liberties of the Scottish Church (^). In 910, Constantin held
a council of the church at Scone, with Kellach the bishop as its head ; wherein
both the king and prelate, solemnly vowed to observe the laws and disci-
pline of the faith, and to maintain the rights of the churches (h). The active
zeal of Innes has discovered some other ecclesiastical councils, which he sup-
(d) Reliquiae Divi Andrese ; Dalryniplo's Coll., 132.
(e) Sir James Dalrymple's Collections, whieli are filled with the prejudices of his age and
countr3^
(0) See Usher's most learned discourse on the religion anciently professed b}' the Irish and
British ; Lloyd's Historical Acco. of Church Government in Q-. Britain and Ireland, eh. iii.
to vii.
(/) Critical Essay, p. 587.
((/) Chron. in the Register of St. Andrews: Innes, p. 801. The Chronicon Elegiacum concurs
with this.
(A) That some event of such a nature at that time occurred, we have the authority of one of the
most ancient chronicles for believing. Crit. Essay, p. 588 ; Ap. No. 3, p. 785 ; Enquiry, 1789, v. i.,
App. 403; and see Wilkins's Concilia, v. i., p. 204, for the "Concilium Scoanense in Scotia," from
the Bibl. MS. Colbei-t., Paris, in support of the same position.
440 A N A C C 0 U N T [Book III.— r/;e Scottish Period.
poses to have been held in the united kingdom, at Forte viot in 860 ; at For-
far in 878 ; at Perth in 1020 ; and a sixth council under Macbeth, in
1050 (i). But the laws of the son of Finley ai'e undoubtedly spurious, and
the supposed councils of Perth, of Forfar, and of Forteviot, require better
authority than the loose assertion of Boece, to enforce conviction or even to
induce regard.
An age arrived, however, when councils of the Scottish clergy were to be
called. Before the reign of Malcolm Ceanmore, novelties had crept into the
Scottish church. These abuses were seen and lamented by a pious queen,
and a council was convened in 1074, during the episcopal rule of Fothad, for
the correction of those erroneous practices, particularly those which regarded
the keeping of Lent. A difficulty soon occurred when the council met. The
Scottish clergy could only speak Gaelic, Margaret, who was the principal pro-
locutor, could only speak Saxon. The king, loho understood the English language
as tvell as his oivn, acted as interpreter between them, in imitation of Oswald
the Northumbrian, at a similar conference in a prior age (Z;). At the end of
three days the clergy, conscious of their own ignorance, dutifully acquiesced in
the dictates of a learned queen, as delivered by the royal expositor (?). From
those instructive intimations, it is sufficiently apparent that the church of the
united kingdom w^as Gaelic in that Gaelic reign. We might from that circum-
staiice easily suppose, if there were not facts which establish the certainty, that
the people were also Gaelic ; because there would be no congruity between a
Celtic clergy and Teutonic parishioners. We shall see in our progress the
Scotican church undergo the greatest changes during the successive reigns of
the more intelligent sons of Malcolm and Margaret.
(i) Innes's Essay, p. 588. Wilkins, indeed, lias published in bis Concilia, v. i., p. 310, "Leges
" Ecclesiasticse Maccabaei ! "
(k) See tbis very curious passage in the Life of Margaret by Bishop Turgot, who was present.
Vitee antiquae Sanctorum, 1789, p. 339 ; with the illustrative commentary of Lord Hailes. Annals,
\. i., p. 35.
(/) Lord Hailes's Annals, v. i., p. 35.
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