Kingdom of Scotland

History Main article: History of Scotland Origins: 400–943 Main article: Origins of the Kingdom of Alba From the 5th century on, north Britain was divided into a series of petty kingdoms. Of these, the four most important were those of the Picts in the north-east, the Scots of Dál Riata in the west, the Britons of Strathclyde in the south-west and the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia (which united with Deira to form Northumbria in 653) in the south-east, stretching into modern northern England. In 793, ferocious Viking raids began on monasteries such as those at Iona and Lindisfarne , creating fear and confusion across the kingdoms of north Britain. Orkney , Shetland and the Western Isles eventually fell to the Norsemen. [ 1 ] In a decisive battle in 839 , the king of the Picts, Uuen , and the king of Dál Riata , Áed , were killed by Vikings. This led to a period of instability, which culminated in the rise of Cínaed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) as "king of the Picts" in the 840s (traditionally dated to 843), [ 2 ] and brought to power the House of Alpin . [ 3 ] Under the House of Alpin, there was a long-term process of Gaelicisation of the Pictish kingdoms, which adopted Gaelic language and customs. There was also a merger of the Gaelic (Scots) and Pictish kingdoms, although historians debate whether it was a Pictish takeover of Dál Riata, or vice-versa. When he died as king of the combined kingdom in 900, one of Kenneth's successors, Domnall II (Donald II), was the first man to be called rí Alban (King of Alba ). [ 4 ] The Latin term Scotia would increasingly be used to describe the heartland of these kings, north of the River Forth , and eventually the entire area controlled by its kings would be referred to, in English, as Scotland. [ 5 ] The long reign (900–942/3) of Donald's successor Causantín (Constantine II) is often regarded as the key to formation of the Kingdom of Alba/Scotland, and he was later credited with bringing Scottish Christianity into conformity with the Catholic Church. [ 6 ] Expansion: 943–1513 Main article: Scotland in the Middle Ages Major political centres in early Medieval Scotland Máel Coluim I (Malcolm I) ( r.   c. 943–954) is believed to have annexed the Kingdom of Strathclyde , over which the kings of Alba had probably exercised some authority since the later 9th century. [ 7 ] His successor, Indulf the Aggressor , was described as the King of Strathclyde before inheriting the throne of Alba; he is credited with later annexing parts of Lothian, including Edinburgh, from the Kingdom of Northumbria. The reign of David I has been characterised as a " Davidian Revolution ", [ 8 ] [ 9 ] in which he introduced a system of feudal land tenure, established the first royal burghs in Scotland and the first recorded Scottish coinage, and continued a process of religious and legal reforms. [ 10 ] Until the 13th century, the border with England was very fluid, with Northumbria being annexed to Scotland by David I, but lost under his grandson and successor Malcolm IV in 1157. [ 11 ] The Treaty of York (1237) fixed the boundaries with England close to the modern border. [ 12 ] By the reign of Alexander III , the Scots had annexed the remainder of the Norwegian-held western seaboard after the stalemate of the Battle of Largs and the Treaty of Perth in 1266. [ 13 ] The Isle of Man fell under English control, from Norwegian, in the 14th century, despite several attempts to seize it for Scotland. [ 14 ] The English briefly occupied most of Scotland, under Edward I . Under Edward III , the English backed Edward Balliol , son of King John Balliol , in an attempt to gain his father's throne and restore the lands of the Scottish lords dispossessed by Robert I and his successors in the 14th century in the Wars of Independence (1296–1357). The king of France attempted to thwart the exercise, under the terms of what became known as the Auld Alliance , which provided for mutual aid against the English. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, under the Stewart Dynasty , despite a turbulent political history, the Crown gained greater political control at the expense of independent lords and regained most of its lost territory to around the modern borders of the country. [ 15 ] The dowry of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, by the Norwegian crown, in 1468 was the last great land acquisition for the kingdom. [ 16 ] In 1482 the border fortress of Berwick—the largest port in medieval Scotland—fell to the English once again; this was the last time it changed hands. [ 15 ] The Auld Alliance with France committed Scotland to action in the War of the League of Cambrai , resulting in the heavy defeat of a Scottish army at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513 and the death of the King James IV . A long period of political instability followed. [ 17 ] Consolidation: 1513–1690 Main article: Scotland in the early modern period James VI , whose inheritance of the thrones of England and Ireland created a dynastic union in 1603 In the 16th century, under James V of Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots , the Crown and court took on many of the attributes of the Renaissance and New Monarchy , despite long royal minorities , civil wars and interventions by the English and French. [ 18 ] In the mid-16th century, the Scottish Reformation was strongly influenced by Calvinism , leading to widespread iconoclasm and the introduction of a Presbyterian system of organisation and discipline that would have a major impact on Scottish life. [ 19 ] In the late 16th century, James VI emerged as a major intellectual figure with considerable authority over the kingdom. [ 20 ] In 1603, he inherited the thrones of England and Ireland from his childless cousin, Elizabeth I , creating a Union of the Crowns that left the three states with their separate identities and institutions. He also moved the centre of royal patronage and power to London . [ 21 ] When James' son Charles I attempted to impose elements of the English religious settlement on Scotland, the result was the Bishops' Wars (1637–1640), which ended in defeat for the king and a virtually independent Presbyterian Covenanter state in Scotland. [ 22 ] It also helped precipitate the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , during which the Scots carried out major military interventions. After Charles I's defeat, the Scots backed the king in the Second English Civil War ; after his execution, they proclaimed his son Charles II king, resulting in the Anglo-Scottish War of 1650–1652 against the emerging republican regime of Parliamentarians in England led by Oliver Cromwell . The results were a series of defeats and the short-lived incorporation of Scotland into the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland (1653–1660) . [ 23 ] After the 1660 restoration of the monarchy , Scotland regained its separate status and institutions, while the centre of political power remained in London. [ 24 ] After the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689, in which James VII was deposed by his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange in England, Scotland accepted them under the Claim of Right Act 1689 , [ 24 ] but the deposed main hereditary line of the Stuarts became a focus for political discontent known as Jacobitism , leading to a series of invasions and rebellions mainly focused on the Scottish Highlands. [ 25 ] Treaty of Union: 1690–1707 Main articles: Treaty of Union 1707 and Acts of Union 1707 After severe economic dislocation in the 1690s, there were moves that led to political union with England as the Kingdom of Great Britain , which came into force on 1 May 1707. The English and Scottish parliaments were replaced by a combined Parliament of Great Britain , which sat in Westminster and largely continued English traditions without interruption. Forty-five Scots were added to the 513 members of the House of Commons and 16 Scots to the 190 members of the House of Lords . It was also a full economic union, replacing the Scottish systems of currency, taxation and laws regulating trade. [ 26 ] ^ Burns (2009) , pp. 44–45. ^ Webster (1997) , p. 15. ^ Yorke (2006) , p. 54. ^ Anderson 2010 , p. 395. ^ Webster (1997) , p. 22. ^ Woolf (2007) , p. 128. ^ Hudson (1994) , pp. 95–96. ^ Barrow (1992) , pp. 9–11. ^ Lynch (2011) , p. 80. ^ Webster (1997) , pp. 29–37. ^ Davies (2000) , p. 64. ^ Thomson (2008) , p. 204. ^ Macquarrie (2004) , p. 153. ^ Grant & Stringer (1995) , p. 101. ^ a b Bawcutt & Williams (2006) , p. 21. ^ Wormald (1991) , p. 5. ^ Menzies (2002) , p. 179. ^ Thomas (2012) , p. 188. ^ Wormald (1991) , pp. 120–133. ^ Thomas (2012) , p. 200. ^ Smith (1998) , ch. 2. ^ Mackie (1978) , pp. 200–206. ^ Mackie (1978) , pp. 225–226. ^ a b Mackie (1978) , pp. 241–245. ^ Mackie (1978) , pp. 283–284. ^ Mitchison (2002) , p. 314. Read more on Wikipedia →

Military Navy Main articles: Royal Scots Navy and History of the Royal Navy A carving of a birlinn from a 16th-century tombstone in MacDufie's Chapel, Oronsay, as engraved in 1772 There are mentions in medieval records of fleets commanded by Scottish kings including William the Lion [ 1 ] and Alexander II . The latter took personal command of a large naval force which sailed from the Firth of Clyde and anchored off the island of Kerrera in 1249, intended to transport his army in a campaign against the Kingdom of the Isles , but he died before the campaign could begin. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Records indicate that Alexander had several large oared ships built at Ayr , but he avoided a sea battle. [ 1 ] Defeat on land at the Battle of Largs and winter storms forced the Norwegian fleet to return home, leaving the Scottish Crown as the major power in the region and leading to the ceding of the Western Isles to Alexander in 1266. [ 4 ] Part of the reason for Robert I's success in the Wars of Independence was his ability to call on naval forces from the Islands. As a result of the expulsion of the Flemings from England in 1303, he gained the support of a major naval power in the North Sea. [ 5 ] The development of naval power allowed Robert to successfully defeat English attempts to capture him in the Highlands and Islands and to blockade major English controlled fortresses at Perth and Stirling, the last forcing Edward II to attempt the relief that resulted in English defeat at Bannockburn in 1314. [ 5 ] Scottish naval forces allowed invasions of the Isle of Man in 1313 and 1317 and Ireland in 1315. They were also crucial in the blockade of Berwick, which led to its fall in 1318. [ 5 ] After the establishment of Scottish independence, Robert I turned his attention to building up a Scottish naval capacity. This was largely focused on the west coast, with the Exchequer Rolls of 1326 recording the feudal duties of his vassals in that region to aid him with their vessels and crews. Towards the end of his reign he supervised the building of at least one royal man-of-war near his palace at Cardross on the River Clyde . In the late 14th century, naval warfare with England was conducted largely by hired Scots, Flemish and French merchantmen and privateers. [ 6 ] James I took a greater interest in naval power. After his return to Scotland in 1424, he established a shipbuilding yard at Leith , a house for marine stores, and a workshop. King's ships were built and equipped there to be used for trade as well as war, one of which accompanied him on his expedition to the Islands in 1429. The office of Lord High Admiral was probably founded in this period. In his struggles with his nobles in 1488 James III received assistance from his two warships the Flower and the King's Carvel also known as the Yellow Carvel . [ 6 ] A model of the Great Michael in the Royal Museum There were various attempts to create royal naval forces in the 15th century. James IV put the enterprise on a new footing, founding a harbour at Newhaven and a dockyard at the Pools of Airth . [ 7 ] He acquired a total of 38 ships including the Great Michael , [ 8 ] at that time, the largest ship in Europe. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Scottish ships had some success against privateers, accompanied the king on his expeditions in the islands and intervened in conflicts in Scandinavia and the Baltic, [ 6 ] but were sold after the Flodden campaign and after 1516 Scottish naval efforts would rely on privateering captains and hired merchantmen. [ 6 ] James V did not share his father's interest in developing a navy and shipbuilding fell behind that of the Low Countries . [ 10 ] Despite truces between England and Scotland there were periodic outbreaks of a guerre de course . [ 11 ] James V built a new harbour at Burntisland in 1542. [ 12 ] The chief use of naval power in his reign was a series of expeditions to the Isles and France. [ 13 ] After the Union of Crowns in 1603 conflict between Scotland and England ended, but Scotland found itself involved in England's foreign policy, opening up Scottish shipping to attack. In 1626, a squadron of three ships was bought and equipped. [ 9 ] There were also several marque fleets of privateers. [ 14 ] In 1627, the Royal Scots Navy and accompanying contingents of burgh privateers participated in the major expedition to Biscay . [ 15 ] The Scots also returned to the West Indies [ 16 ] and in 1629 took part in the capture of Quebec . [ 17 ] During the Bishop's Wars the king attempted to blockade Scotland and planned amphibious assaults from England on the East coast and from Ireland to the West. [ 18 ] Scottish privateers took a number of English prizes. [ 19 ] After the Covenanters allied with the English Parliament they established two patrol squadrons for the Atlantic and North Sea coasts, known collectively as the "Scotch Guard". [ 20 ] The Scottish navy was unable to withstand the English fleet that accompanied the army led by Cromwell that conquered Scotland in 1649–1651 and the Scottish ships and crews were split up among the Commonwealth fleet. [ 21 ] Scottish seamen received protection against arbitrary impressment by English men of war, but a fixed quota of conscripts for the Royal Navy was levied from the sea-coast burghs during the second half of the 17th century. [ 22 ] Royal Navy patrols were now found in Scottish waters even in peacetime. [ 23 ] In the Second (1665–1667) and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars (1672–1674) between 80 and 120 captains, took Scottish letters of marque and privateers played a major part in the naval conflict. [ 24 ] In the 1690s, a small fleet of five ships was established by merchants for the Darien Scheme , [ 25 ] and a professional navy was established for the protection of commerce in home waters during the Nine Years' War, with three purpose-built warships bought from English shipbuilders in 1696. After the Act of Union in 1707, these vessels were transferred to the Royal Navy . [ 26 ] Army Main articles: Scots Army , Warfare in Medieval Scotland , and Warfare in early modern Scotland Scottish soldiers in the period of the Hundred Years' War , detail from an edition of Froissart's Chronicles Before the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-17th century, there was no standing army in the Kingdom of Scotland. In the Early Middle Ages , war in Scotland was characterised by the use of small war-bands of household troops often engaging in raids and low level warfare. [ 27 ] By the High Middle Ages , the kings of Scotland could command forces of tens of thousands of men for short periods as part of the "common army", mainly of poorly armoured spear and bowmen. After the " Davidian Revolution " of the 12th century, which introduced elements of feudalism to Scotland, these forces were augmented by small numbers of mounted and heavily armoured knights. These armies rarely managed to stand up to the usually larger and more professional armies produced by England, but they were used to good effect by Robert I at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 to secure Scottish independence. [ 28 ] After the Wars of Scottish Independence , the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France played a large part in the country's military activities, especially during the Hundred Years' War . In the Late Middle Ages , under the Stewart kings forces were further augmented by specialist troops, particularly men-at-arms and archers , hired by bonds of manrent , similar to English indentures of the same period. [ 29 ] Archers became much sought after as mercenaries in French armies of the 15th century in order to help counter the English superiority in this arm, becoming a major element of the French royal guards as the Garde Écossaise . [ 30 ] The Stewarts also adopted major innovations in continental warfare, such as longer pikes and the extensive use of artillery. However, in the early 16th century one of the best armed and largest Scottish armies ever assembled still met with defeat at the hands of an English army at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513, which saw the destruction of a large number of ordinary troops, a large section of the nobility and the king, James IV . [ 31 ] In the 16th century, the crown took an increasing role in the supply of military equipment. [ 32 ] The pike began to replace the spear and the Scots began to convert from the bow to gunpowder firearms. [ 33 ] The feudal heavy cavalry had begun to disappear from Scottish armies and the Scots fielded relatively large numbers of light horse, often drawn from the borders . [ 34 ] James IV brought in experts from France, Germany and the Netherlands and established a gun foundry in 1511. [ 13 ] Gunpowder weaponry fundamentally altered the nature of castle architecture from the mid-15th century. [ 35 ] The earliest image of Scottish soldiers wearing tartan ; 1631 German engraving. In the early 17th century, relatively large numbers of Scots took service in foreign armies involved in the Thirty Years War . [ 36 ] As armed conflict with Charles I in the Bishop's Wars became likely, hundreds of Scots mercenaries returned home from foreign service, including experienced leaders like Alexander and David Leslie and these veterans played an important role in training recruits. [ 18 ] These systems would form the basis of the Covenanter armies that intervened in the Civil Wars in England and Ireland. [ 37 ] Scottish infantry were generally armed, as was almost universal in Western Europe, with a combination of pike and shot. Scottish armies may also have had individuals with a variety of weapons including bows, Lochaber axes , and halberds . [ 38 ] Most cavalry were probably equipped with pistols and swords, although there is some evidence that they included lancers. [ 39 ] Royalist armies, like those led by James Graham, Marquis of Montrose (1643–1644) and in Glencairn's rising (1653–1654) were mainly composed of conventionally armed infantry with pike and shot. [ 40 ] Montrose's forces were short of heavy artillery suitable for siege warfare and had only a small force of cavalry. [ 41 ] At the Restoration the Privy Council established a force of several infantry regiments and a few troops of horse and there were attempts to found a national militia on the English model. The standing army was mainly employed in the suppression of Covenanter rebellions and the guerilla war undertaken by the Cameronians in the East. [ 42 ] Pikemen became less important in the late 17th century and after the introduction of the socket bayonet disappeared altogether, while matchlock muskets were replaced by the more reliable flintlock . [ 42 ] On the eve of the Glorious Revolution , the standing army in Scotland was about 3,000 men in various regiments and another 268 veterans in the major garrison towns. [ 43 ] After the Glorious Revolution the Scots were drawn into King William II 's continental wars, beginning with the Nine Years' War in Flanders (1689–1697). [ 44 ] By the time of the Act of Union , the Kingdom of Scotland had a standing army of seven units of infantry, two of horse and one troop of Horse Guards , besides varying levels of fortress artillery in the garrison castles of Edinburgh, Dumbarton , and Stirling, which would be incorporated into the British Army . 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