View source for Scotland in the Middle Ages

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{{History of Scotland}}
'''Scotland in the Middle Ages''' concerns the [[history of Scotland]] from the departure of the Romans to the adoption of major aspects of the [[Renaissance]] in the early sixteenth century.

From the fifth century northern Britain was divided into a series of kingdoms. Of these the four most important to emerge were the [[Picts]], the Gaels of [[Dál Riata]], the Britons of [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]] and the [[Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom of [[Bernicia]], later taken over by [[Northumbria]]. After the arrival of the [[Vikings]] in the late eighth century, Scandinavian rulers and colonies were established along parts of the coasts and in the islands.

In the ninth century the Scots and Picts [[Origins of Scotland|combined]] under the [[House of Alpin]] to form a single [[Kingdom of Alba]], with a Pictish base and dominated by [[Gaelic culture]]. After the reign of [[King David I]] in the twelfth century, the [[Scottish monarchs]] are best described as [[Scoto-Norman]], preferring [[French culture]] to native [[Scottish culture]]. [[Alexander II of Scotland|Alexander II]] and his son [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]], were able to regain the remainder of the western seaboard, cumulating the [[Treaty of Perth]] with Norway in 1266.

After being invaded and briefly occupied, Scotland re-established its independence from England under figures including [[William Wallace]] in the late thirteenth century and [[Robert I of Scotland|Robert Bruce]] in the fourteenth century.

In the fifteenth century under the [[Stewart Dynasty]], despite a turbulent [[Political history of Scotland|political history]], the crown gained greater political control at the expense of independent lords and regained most of its lost territory to approximately the modern borders of the country. However, the [[Auld Alliance]] with France led to the heavy defeat of a Scottish army at the [[Battle of Flodden]] in 1513 and the death of the king [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]], which would be followed by a long minority and a period of political instability. Kingship was the major form of government, growing in sophistication in the [[Late medieval Scotland|late Middle Ages]]. The scale and nature of war also changed, with larger armies, naval forces and the development of artillery and fortifications.

The Church in Scotland always [[Catholic Church in Scotland|accepted papal authority]] (contrary to the implications of [[Celtic Christianity]]), introduced monasticism, and from the eleventh century embraced monastic reform, developing a flourishing religious culture that asserted its independence from English control.

Scotland grew from its base in the eastern [[Scottish Lowlands|Lowlands]], to approximately its modern borders. The varied and dramatic [[Geography of Scotland|geography of the land]] provided a protection against invasion, but limited central control. It also defined the largely pastoral economy, with the first [[burgh]]s being created from the twelfth century. The population may have grown to a peak of a million before the arrival of the [[Black Death]] in 1350. In the early Middle Ages society was divided between a small aristocracy and larger numbers of freemen and slaves. Serfdom disappeared in the fourteenth century and there was a growth of new social groups.

The [[Pictish]] and [[Cumbric]] languages were replaced by [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]], [[Scots language|Scots]] and later [[Old Norse|Norse]], with Gaelic emerging as the major cultural language. From the eleventh century French was adopted in the court and in the late Middle Ages, [[Scots language|Scots]], derived from Old English, became dominant, with Gaelic largely confined to the Highlands. Christianity brought Latin, written culture and monasteries as centres of learning. From the twelfth century, educational opportunities widened and a growth of lay education cumulated in the [[Education Act 1496]]. Until in the fifteenth century, when Scotland gained three universities, Scots pursuing higher education had to travel to England or the continent, where some gained an international reputation. Literature survives in all the major languages present in the early Middle Ages, with Scots emerging as a major literary language from [[John Barbour (poet)|John Barbour]]'s ''[[The Brus|Brus]]'' (1375), developing a culture of poetry by court [[makars]], and later major works of prose. Art from the early Middle Ages survives in carving, in metalwork, and elaborate illuminated books, which contributed to the development of the wider [[insular art|insular style]]. Much of the finest later work has not survived, but there are a few key examples, particularly of work commissioned in the Netherlands. Scotland had a musical tradition, with secular music composed and performed by [[bard]]s and from the thirteenth century, church music increasingly influenced by continental and English forms.

==Political history==

===Early Middle Ages===
{{Main|Scotland in the Early Middle Ages}}

====Minor kingdoms====
[[File:Early Medieval Scotland areas.png|thumb|upright|left|Major political centres in early Medieval Scotland]]
In the centuries after the departure of the Romans from Britain, four major circles of influence emerged within the borders of what is now Scotland. In the east were the [[Picts]], whose kingdoms eventually stretched from the river Forth to Shetland. The first identifiable king to have exerted a superior and wide-ranging authority, was [[Bridei I of the Picts|Bridei mac Maelchon]] (r. c. 550–84), whose power was based in the Kingdom of Fidach and his base was at the fort of Craig Phadrig near modern [[Inverness]].<ref name=Haywoodp2004p116>J. Haywood, ''The Celts: Bronze Age to New Age'' (London: Pearson Education, 2004), {{ISBN|0-582-50578-X}}, p. 116.</ref> After his death leadership seems to have shifted to the [[Fortriu]], whose lands were centred on [[Strathearn]] and [[Menteith]] and who raided along the eastern coast into modern England. Christian missionaries from [[Iona]] appear to have begun the conversion of the Picts to Christianity from 563.<ref name=Smyth1989pp43-6/>

In the west were the Gaelic ([[Goidelic]])-speaking people of [[Dál Riata]] with their royal fortress at [[Dunadd]] in Argyll, with close links with the island of Ireland, from which they brought with them the name Scots. In 563 a mission from Ireland under [[St. Columba]] founded the monastery of [[Iona]] off the west coast of Scotland and probably began the conversion of the region to Christianity.<ref name=Smyth1989pp43-6>A. P. Smyth, ''Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-0100-7}}, pp. 43–6.</ref> The kingdom reached its height under [[Áedán mac Gabráin]] (r. 574–608), but its expansion was checked at the [[Battle of Degsastan]] in 603 by [[Æthelfrith of Northumbria]].<ref>A. Woolf, ''From Pictland to Alba: 789 – 1070'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7486-1234-3}}, pp. 57–67.</ref>

In the south was the British ([[Britons (historical)|Brythonic]]) [[Kingdom of Strathclyde]], descendants of the peoples of the Roman influenced kingdoms of "[[Y Gogledd Hen|The Old North]]", often named Alt Clut, the Brythonic name for their capital at [[Dumbarton Rock]]. In 642, they defeated the men of Dál Riata,<ref>A. Macquarrie, "The kings of Strathclyde, c. 400–1018", in G. W. S. Barrow, A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, eds, ''Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), {{ISBN|0-7486-1110-X}}, p. 8.</ref> but the kingdom suffered a number of attacks from the Picts, and later their Northumbrian allies, between 744 and 756.<ref>A. Williams and A. P. Smyth, eds, ''A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales, c. 500-c. 1050'' (London: Routledge, 1991), {{ISBN|1-85264-047-2}}, p. 106.</ref> After this, little is recorded until Alt Clut was burnt and probably destroyed in 780, although by whom and what in what circumstances is not known.<ref>A. Gibb, ''Glasgow, the Making of a City'' (London: Routledge, 1983), {{ISBN|0-7099-0161-5}}, p. 7.</ref>

Finally, there were the English or "Angles", Germanic invaders who had conquered much of southern Britain and held the Kingdom of [[Bernicia]], in the south-east.<ref>J. R. Maddicott and D. M. Palliser, eds, ''The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell'' (London: Continuum, 2000), {{ISBN|1-85285-195-3}}, p. 48.</ref> The first English king in the historical record is [[Ida of Bernicia|Ida]], who is said to have obtained the throne and the kingdom about 547.<ref>B. Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'' (London: Routledge, 2002), {{ISBN|0-203-44730-1}}, pp. 75–7.</ref> Ida's grandson, Æthelfrith, united his kingdom with [[Deira (kingdom)|Deira]] to the south to form Northumbria around the year 604. There were changes of dynasty, and the kingdom was divided, but it was re-united under Æthelfrith's son [[Oswald of Northumbria|Oswald]] (r. 634–42), who had converted to Christianity while in exile in Dál Riata and looked to Iona for missionaries to help convert his kingdom.<ref>B. Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'' (London: Routledge, 2002), {{ISBN|0-203-44730-1}}, p. 78.</ref>

====Origins of the Kingdom of Alba====
{{Main|Origins of the Kingdom of Alba}}
[[File:Wikinger.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Danish seamen, painted mid-twelfth century]]
This situation was transformed in AD 793 when ferocious Viking raids began on monasteries like Iona and Lindisfarne, creating fear and confusion across the kingdoms of North Britain. [[Orkney Islands|Orkney]], [[Shetland Isles|Shetland]] and the Western Isles eventually fell to the Norsemen.<ref>W. E. Burns, ''A Brief History of Great Britain'' (Infobase Publishing, 2009), {{ISBN|0-8160-7728-2}}, pp. 44–5.</ref> The King of Fortriu, [[Uen of the Picts|Eógan mac Óengusa]], and the King of Dál Riata [[Áed mac Boanta]], were among the dead in a major defeat at the hands of the Vikings in 839.<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, p. 10.</ref> A mixture of Viking and Gaelic Irish settlement into south-west Scotland produced the [[Gall-Gaidel]], the ''Norse Irish'', from which the region gets the modern name [[Galloway]].<ref>F. D. Logan, ''The Vikings in History'' (London, Routledge, 2nd edn., 1992), {{ISBN|0-415-08396-6}}, p. 49.</ref> Sometime in the ninth century the beleaguered Kingdom of Dál Riata lost the Hebrides to the Vikings, when [[Ketil Flatnose]] is said to have founded the [[Kingdom of the Isles]].<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, p. 9.</ref>

These threats may have speeded a long-term process of gaelicisation of the Pictish kingdoms, which adopted Gaelic language and customs. There was also a merger of the Gaelic and Pictish crowns, although historians debate whether it was a Pictish takeover of Dál Riata, or the other way around. This culminated in the rise of [[Kenneth I of Scotland|Cínaed mac Ailpín]] (Kenneth MacAlpin) in the 840s, which brought to power the [[House of Alpin]].<ref name=Yorke2006p54>B. Yorke, ''The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c.600–800'' (Pearson Education, 2006), {{ISBN|0-582-77292-3}}, p. 54.</ref> In AD 867 the Vikings seized Northumbria, forming the [[Kingdom of York]];<ref name=Rollason2003p212>D. W. Rollason, ''Northumbria, 500–1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-521-81335-2}}, p. 212.</ref> three years later they stormed the Britons' fortress of Dumbarton<ref>C. A. Snyder, ''The Britons'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2003), {{ISBN|0-631-22260-X}}, p. 220.</ref> and subsequently conquered much of England except for a reduced Kingdom of Wessex,<ref name=Rollason2003p212/> leaving the new combined Pictish and Gaelic kingdom almost encircled.<ref>J. Hearn, ''Claiming Scotland: National Identity and Liberal Culture'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|1-902930-16-9}}, p. 100.</ref> When he died as king of the combined kingdom in 900, [[Donald II of Scotland|Domnall II]] (Donald II) was the first man to be called ''rí Alban'' (i.e. ''King of Alba'').<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources of Scottish History, A.D. 500 to 1286'' (General Books LLC, 2010), vol. i, {{ISBN|1-152-21572-8}}, p. 395.</ref> The term Scotia would be increasingly be used to describe the kingdom between North of the Forth and Clyde and eventually the entire area controlled by its kings would be referred to as Scotland.<ref name=Webster1997p22>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, p. 22.</ref>

===High Middle Ages===
{{Main|Scotland in the High Middle Ages}}

====Gaelic kings: Constantine II to Alexander I====
{{Main|House of Dunkeld}}
[[File:Scotland from the Matthew Paris map, c.1250.jpg|thumb|left|Scotland from the Matthew Paris map, c. 1250]]
The long reign (900–942/3) of [[Constantine II of Scotland|Causantín]] (Constantine II) is often regarded as the key to formation of the Kingdom of Alba. He was later credited with bringing Scottish Christianity into conformity with the Catholic Church. After fighting many battles, his defeat at [[Brunanburh]] was followed by his retirement as a [[Culdee]] monk at St. Andrews.<ref>A. Woolf, ''From Pictland to Alba: 789 – 1070'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7486-1234-3}}, p. 128.</ref> The period between the accession of his successor [[Malcolm I of Scotland|Máel Coluim I]] (Malcolm I) and Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (Malcolm II) was marked by good relations with the [[Wessex]] [[Kings of England|rulers of England]], intense internal dynastic disunity and relatively successful expansionary policies. In 945, Máel Coluim I annexed [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]], where the kings of Alba had probably exercised some authority since the later ninth century, as part of an agreement with King [[Edmund I of England|Edmund of England]].<ref>B. T. Hudson, ''Kings of Celtic Scotland'' (Westport: Greenhill 1994), {{ISBN|0-313-29087-3}}, pp. 95–6.</ref> This event was offset by loss of control in Moray. The reign of King [[Duncan I of Scotland|Donnchad I]] (Duncan I) from 1034 was marred by failed military adventures, and he was defeated and killed by [[Macbeth, King of Scotland|Macbeth]], the [[Mormaer of Moray]], who became king in 1040.<ref>B. T. Hudson, ''Kings of Celtic Scotland'' (Westport: Greenhill 1994), {{ISBN|0-313-29087-3}}, p. 124.</ref> MacBeth ruled for 17 years before he was overthrown by [[Malcolm III of Scotland|Máel Coluim]], the son of Donnchad, who some months later defeated Macbeth's [[Stepfamily|step-son]] and successor [[Lulach]] to become king Máel Coluim III (Malcolm III).<ref name=Mackie43>J. D. Mackie, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Pelican, 1964). p. 43.</ref>

It was Máel Coluim III, who acquired the nickname "Canmore" (''Cenn Mór'', "Great Chief"), which he passed to his successors and who did most to create the [[House of Dunkeld|Dunkeld dynasty]] that ruled Scotland for the following two centuries. Particularly important was his second marriage to the Anglo-Hungarian princess [[Saint Margaret of Scotland|Margaret]].<ref>A. A. M. Duncan, ''Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom, The Edinburgh History of Scotland, Volume 1'' (Edinburgh: Mercat Press,1989), p. 119.</ref> This marriage, and raids on northern England, prompted [[William I of England|William the Conqueror]] to invade and Máel Coluim submitted to his authority, opening up Scotland to later claims of sovereignty by English kings.<ref>A. A. M. Duncan, ''Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom, The Edinburgh History of Scotland, Volume 1'' (Edinburgh: Mercat Press,1989), p. 120.</ref> When Malcolm died in 1093, his brother [[Donald III of Scotland|Domnall III]] (Donald III) succeeded him. However, [[William II of England]] backed Máel Coluim's son by his first marriage, [[Duncan II|Donnchad]], as a pretender to the throne and he seized power. His murder within a few months saw Domnall restored with one of Máel Coluim sons by his second marriage, [[Edmund of Scotland|Edmund]], as his heir. The two ruled Scotland until two of Edmund's younger brothers returned from exile in England, again with English military backing. Victorious, [[Edgar of Scotland|Edgar]], the oldest of the three, became king in 1097.<ref name=Webster1997pp23-4>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 23–4.</ref> Shortly afterwards Edgar and the King of Norway, [[Magnus III of Norway|Magnus Bare Legs]] concluded a treaty recognising Norwegian authority over the Western Isles. In practice Norse control of the Isles was loose, with local chiefs enjoying a high degree of independence. He was succeeded by his brother [[Alexander I of Scotland|Alexander]], who reigned 1107–24.<ref>A. Forte, R. D. Oram and F. Pedersen, ''Viking Empires'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), {{ISBN|0-521-82992-5}}, p. 238.</ref>

====Scoto-Norman kings: David I to Alexander III====
{{Main|Davidian Revolution|Scoto-Norman}}[[File:David I and Malcolm IV.jpg|thumb|[[David I of Scotland|David I]] alongside his successor, [[Malcolm IV of Scotland|Malcolm IV]]]]
When Alexander died in 1124, the crown passed to Margaret's fourth son [[David I of Scotland|David I]], who had spent most of his life as an English baron. His reign saw what has been characterised as a  "[[Davidian Revolution]]", by which native institutions and personnel were replaced by English and French ones, underpinning the development of later Medieval Scotland.<ref name=Barrow1992pp9-11>G. W. S. Barrow, "David I of Scotland: The Balance of New and Old", in G. W. S. Barrow, ed., ''Scotland and Its Neighbours in the Middle Ages'' (London, 1992), pp. 9–11 pp. 9–11.</ref><ref>M. Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'' (Random House, 2011), {{ISBN|1-4464-7563-8}}, p. 80.</ref> Members of the Anglo-Norman nobility took up places in the Scottish aristocracy and he introduced a system of [[feudalism|feudal]] land tenure, which produced [[knight service]], castles and an available body of heavily armed body of cavalry. He created an Anglo-Norman style of court, introduced the office of [[justicar]] to oversee justice, and local offices of [[sheriffs]] to administer localities. He established the first [[royal burgh]]s in Scotland, granting rights to particular settlements, which led to the development of the first true Scottish towns and helped facilitate economic development as did the introduction of the first recorded Scottish coinage. He continued a process begun by his mother and brothers, of helping to establish foundations that brought the reformed monasticism based on that at [[Cluny Abbey|Cluny]]. He also played a part in the organisation of diocese on lines closer to those in the rest of Western Europe.<ref name=Webster1997pp29-37>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 29–37.</ref>

These reforms were pursued under his successors and grandchildren [[Malcolm IV of Scotland]] and [[William I of Scotland|William I]], with the crown now passing down the main line of descent through primogeniture, leading to the first of a series of minorities.<ref name=Webster1997pp23-4/> The benefits of greater authority were reaped by William's son [[Alexander II of Scotland|Alexander II]] and his son [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]], who pursued a policy of peace with England to expand their authority in the Highlands and Islands. By the reign of Alexander III, the Scots were in a position to annexe the remainder of the western seaboard, which they did following [[Haakon IV of Norway|Haakon Haakonarson]]'s ill-fated invasion and the stalemate of the [[Battle of Largs]] with the [[Treaty of Perth]] in 1266.<ref name=Macquarrie2004p153>A. Macquarrie, ''Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation'' (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-2977-4}}, p. 153.</ref>

===Late Middle Ages===
{{Main|Scotland in the Late Middle Ages}}

====Wars of Independence: Margaret to David II====
{{Main|Wars of Scottish Independence}}
[[File:Robert the Bruce.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The statue near Stirling commemorating [[Robert I of Scotland|Robert I]]]]
The death of King Alexander III in 1286, and then of his granddaughter and heir [[Margaret, Maid of Norway]] in 1290, left 14 rivals for succession. To prevent civil war the Scottish magnates asked [[Edward I of England]] to arbitrate, for which he extracted legal recognition that the realm of Scotland was held as a feudal dependency to the throne of England before choosing [[John Balliol]], the man with the strongest claim, who became king in 1292.<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, p. 40.</ref> [[Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale]], the next strongest claimant, accepted this outcome with reluctance. Over the next few years Edward I used the concessions he had gained to systematically undermine both the authority of King John and the independence of Scotland.<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, p. 42.</ref> In 1295 John, on the urgings of his chief councillors, entered into an alliance with France, known as the [[Auld Alliance]].<ref>N. Macdougall, ''An Antidote to the English: the Auld Alliance, 1295–1560'' (Tuckwell Press, 2001), p. 9.</ref> In 1296 Edward invaded Scotland, deposing King John. The following year [[William Wallace]] and [[Andrew de Moray]] raised forces to resist the occupation and under their joint leadership an English army was defeated at the [[Battle of Stirling Bridge]]. For a short time Wallace ruled Scotland in the name of John Balliol as guardian of the realm. Edward came north in person and defeated Wallace at the [[Battle of Falkirk (1298)|Battle of Falkirk]].<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, pp. 43–4.</ref> The English barons refuted the French-inspired papal claim to Scottish overlordship in the [[Barons' Letter, 1301]], claiming it rather as long possessed by English kings. Wallace escaped but probably resigned as Guardian of Scotland. In 1305 he fell into the hands of the English, who executed him for treason despite the fact that he believed he owed no allegiance to England.<ref>A. Tuck, ''Crown and Nobility: England 1272–1461'' (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2nd edn., 1999), {{ISBN|0-631-21466-6}}, p. 31.</ref>

Rivals [[John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch|John Comyn]] and [[Robert the Bruce]], grandson of the claimant, were appointed as joint guardians in his place.<ref name=Ross1999>David R. Ross, ''On the Trail of Robert the Bruce'' (Dundurn Press Ltd., 1999), {{ISBN|0-946487-52-9}}, p. 21.</ref> On 10 February 1306, Bruce participated in the murder of Comyn, at Greyfriars Kirk in [[Dumfries]].<ref>Hugh F. Kearney, ''The British Isles: a History of Four Nations'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn., 2006), {{ISBN|0-521-84600-5}}, p. 116.</ref> Less than seven weeks later, on 25 March, Bruce was crowned as king. However, Edward's forces overran the country after defeating Bruce's small army at the [[Battle of Methven]].<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Robert Bruce'' (Berkeley CA.: University of California Press, 1965), p. 216.</ref> Despite the excommunication of Bruce and his followers by [[Pope Clement V]], his support slowly strengthened; and by 1314 with the help of leading nobles such as Sir [[James Douglas, Lord of Douglas|James Douglas]] and [[Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray|Thomas Randolph]] only the castles at Bothwell and Stirling remained under English control.<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Robert Bruce'' (Berkeley CA.: University of California Press, 1965), p. 273.</ref> Edward I had died in 1307. His heir [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] moved an army north to break the siege of [[Stirling Castle]] and reassert control. Robert defeated that army at the [[Battle of Bannockburn]] in 1314, securing ''de facto'' independence.<ref>M. Brown, ''Bannockburn: the Scottish War and the British Isles, 1307–1323'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008), {{ISBN|0-7486-3333-2}}.</ref> In 1320 the [[Declaration of Arbroath]], a remonstrance to the pope from the nobles of Scotland, helped convince [[Pope John XXII]] to overturn the earlier excommunication and nullify the various acts of submission by Scottish kings to English ones so that Scotland's sovereignty could be recognised by the major European dynasties. The declaration has also been seen as one of the most important documents in the development of a Scottish national identity.<ref>M. Brown, ''The Wars of Scotland, 1214–1371'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7486-1238-6}}, p. 217.</ref>

In 1328, [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] signed the [[Treaty of Northampton]] acknowledging Scottish independence under the rule of Robert the Bruce.<ref name=Keen2003>M. H. Keen, ''England in the Later Middle Ages: a Political History'' (London: Routledge, 2nd edn., 2003), {{ISBN|0-415-27293-9}}, pp. 86–8.</ref> However, four years after Robert's death in 1329, England once more invaded on the pretext of restoring [[Edward Balliol]], son of John Balliol, to the Scottish throne, thus starting the Second War of Independence.<ref name=Keen2003/> Despite victories at [[Battle of Dupplin Moor|Dupplin Moor]] and [[Battle of Halidon Hill|Halidon Hill]], in the face of tough Scottish resistance led by [[Andrew Murray (soldier)|Sir Andrew Murray]], the son of Wallace's comrade in arms, successive attempts to secure Balliol on the throne failed.<ref name=Keen2003/> Edward III lost interest in the fate of his protégé after the outbreak of the [[Hundred Years' War]] with France.<ref name=Keen2003/> In 1341 [[David II of Scotland|David II]], King Robert's son and heir, was able to return from temporary exile in France. Balliol finally resigned his claim to the throne to Edward in 1356, before retiring to Yorkshire, where he died in 1364.<ref>P. Armstrong, ''Otterburn 1388: Bloody Border Conflict'' (London: Osprey Publishing, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84176-980-0}}, p. 8.</ref>{{clear}}

====The Stewarts: Robert II to James IV====
{{Main|House of Stuart}}
[[File:James II of Scotland (by von Ehingen).jpg|thumb|upright|[[James II of Scotland|James II]] (r. 1437–60), one of the most successful members of the [[Stewart dynasty]] before his accidental death at the siege of Roxburgh]]
After David II's death, [[Robert II of Scotland|Robert II]], the first of the Stewart kings, came to the throne in 1371. He was followed in 1390 by his ailing son John, who took the [[regnal name]] [[Robert III of Scotland|Robert III]]. During Robert III's reign (1390–1406), actual power rested largely in the hands of his brother, [[Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany]].<ref name=Rigby2003>S. H. Rigby, ''A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages'' (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003), {{ISBN|0-631-21785-1}}, pp. 301–2.</ref> After the suspicious death (possibly on the orders of the Duke of Albany) of his elder son, David, Duke of Rothesay in 1402, Robert, fearful for the safety of his younger son, the future [[James I of Scotland|James I]], sent him to France in 1406. However, the English captured him en route and he spent the next 18 years as a prisoner held for ransom. As a result, after the death of Robert III, regents ruled Scotland: first, the Duke of Albany; and later his son [[Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany|Murdoch]].<ref>A. D. M. Barrell, ''Medieval Scotland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-521-58602-X}}, pp. 151–4.</ref>

When Scotland finally paid the ransom in 1424, James, aged 32, returned with his English bride determined to assert this authority.<ref name=Rigby2003/> Several members of the Albany family were executed, and he succeeded in centralising control in the hands of the crown, but at the cost of increasingly unpopularity and he was assassinated in 1437. His son [[James II of Scotland|James II]] when he came of age in 1449, continued his father's policy of weakening the great noble families, most notably taking on the powerful [[House of Douglas|Black Douglas family]] that had come to prominence at the time of Robert I.<ref name=Rigby2003/> His attempt to take Roxburgh from the English in 1460 succeeded, but at the cost of his life as he was killed by an exploding artillery piece.<ref name=Barrellp160-9>A. D. M. Barrell, ''Medieval Scotland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-521-58602-X}}, pp. 160–9.</ref>

His young son came to the throne as [[James III of Scotland|James III]], resulting in another minority, with [[Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd|Robert, Lord Boyd]] emerging as the most important figure. In 1468 James married [[Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland|Margaret of Denmark]], receiving the Orkney and the Shetland Islands in payment of her dowry.<ref name="J. Wormald, 1991 p. 5">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, p. 5.</ref> In 1469 the King asserted his control, executing members of the Boyd family and his brothers, [[Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany|Alexander, Duke of Albany]] and [[John Stewart, Earl of Mar (d. 1479)|John, Earl of Mar]], resulting in Albany leading an English backed invasion and becoming effective ruler.<ref>A. D. M. Barrell, ''Medieval Scotland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-521-58602-X}}, pp. 171–2.</ref> The English retreated, having taken [[Berwick-upon-Tweed|Berwick]] for the last time in 1482, and James was able to regain power. However, the King managed to alienate the barons, former supporters, his wife and his son James. He was defeated at the [[Battle of Sauchieburn]] and killed in 1488.<ref>C. J. Drees, ''The Late Medieval Age of Crisis and Renewal, 1300–1500'' (London: Greenwood, 2001), {{ISBN|0-313-30588-9}}, pp. 244–5.</ref>

His successor [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] successfully ended the quasi-independent rule of the [[Lord of the Isles]], bringing the Western Isles under effective Royal control for the first time.<ref name=Rigby2003/> In 1503, he married [[Margaret Tudor]], daughter of [[Henry VII of England]], thus laying the foundation for the seventeenth century [[Union of the Crowns]].<ref>Roger A. Mason, ''Scots and Britons: Scottish political thought and the union of 1603'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), {{ISBN|0-521-42034-2}}, p. 162.</ref> However, in 1512 the Auld Alliance was renewed and under its terms, when the French were attacked by the English under [[Henry VIII]] the next year, James IV invaded England in support. The invasion was stopped decisively at the [[Battle of Flodden]] during which the King, many of his nobles, and a large number of ordinary troops were killed. Once again Scotland's government lay in the hands of regents in the name of the infant [[James V of Scotland|James V]].<ref name="G. Menzies 2002 p. 179">G. Menzies ''The Scottish Nation'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), {{ISBN|1-902930-38-X}}, p. 179.</ref>

==Government==
{{Main|Government in Medieval Scotland}}
[[File:Alexander III and Ollamh Rígh.JPG|thumb|left|Coronation of [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]] on [[Moot Hill]], [[Scone, Perth and Kinross|Scone]], beside him are the [[Mormaer of Strathearn|Mormaers of Strathearn]] and [[Mormaer of Fife|Fife]], while his genealogy is recited by a royal poet]]
Kingship was the major form of political organisation in the Early Middle Ages, with competing minor kingdoms and fluid relationships of over and under kingdoms.<ref name=Yorke2009>B. Yorke, "Kings and kingship", in P. Stafford, ed., ''A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland, c.500-c.1100'' (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), {{ISBN|1-4051-0628-X}}, pp. 76–90.</ref> The primary function of these kings was as war leaders, but there were also ritual elements to kingship, evident in ceremonies of coronation. The unification of the Scots and Picts from the tenth century that produced the Kingdom of Alba, retained some of these ritual aspects in the coronation at [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]].<ref name=Webster1997pp45-7>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 45–7.</ref> While the Scottish monarchy remained a largely itinerant institution, Scone remained one of its most important locations,<ref name=McNeil&MacQueenpp159-63>P. G. B. McNeill and Hector L. MacQueen, eds, ''Atlas of Scottish History to 1707'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996), pp. 159–63.</ref> with Royal castles at [[Stirling Castle|Stirling]] and [[Perth Castle|Perth]] becoming significant in the later Middle Ages before [[Edinburgh]] developed as a capital in the second half of the fifteenth century.<ref name="Wormald1991pp14-5">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 14–15.</ref> The Scottish crown grew in prestige throughout the era and adopted the conventional offices of Western European courts<ref>N. H. Reid, "Crown and Community under Robert I", in G. W. S. Barrow, A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, eds, ''Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), {{ISBN|0-7486-1110-X}}, p. 221.</ref> and later elements of their ritual and grandeur.<ref name="Wormald1991pp14-5"/>

In the early period the kings of the Scots depended on the great lords of the [[mormaer]]s (later [[earl]]s) and Toísechs (later [[thanes]]), but from the reign of David I [[sheriffdom]]s were introduced, which allowed more direct control and gradually limited the power of the major lordships.<ref name=McNeil&MacQueenpp191-4>P. G. B. McNeill and Hector L. MacQueen, eds, ''Atlas of Scottish History to 1707'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996), pp. 191–4.</ref> While knowledge of early systems of law is limited, justice can be seen as developing from the twelfth century onwards with local [[Sheriff Court|sheriff]], [[burgh]], [[Manorial court|manorial]] and [[ecclesiastical court]]s and offices of the justicar to oversee administration.<ref name="ReidandZimmerman2000Ip24">K. Reid and R. Zimmerman, ''A History of Private Law in Scotland: I. Introduction and Property'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-19-829941-9}}, pp. 24–82.</ref> The Scots [[common law]] began to develop in this period<ref>D. H. S. Sellar, "Gaelic Laws and Institutions", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (New York, 2001), pp. 381–82.</ref> and there were attempts to systematise and codify the law and the beginnings of an educated professional body of lawyers.<ref name="ReidandZimmerman2000Ip66">K. Reid and R. Zimmerman, ''A History of Private Law in Scotland: I. Introduction and Property'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-19-829941-9}}, p. 66.</ref>

In the Late Middle Ages major institutions of government, including the [[Privy Council of Scotland|privy council]] and [[Parliament of Scotland|parliament]] developed. The council emerged as a full-time body in the fifteenth century, increasingly dominated by laymen and critical to the administration of justice. Parliament also emerged as a major legal institution, gaining an oversight of taxation and policy. By the end of the era it was sitting almost every year, partly because of the frequent minorities and regencies of the period, which may have prevented it from being sidelined by the monarchy.<ref name="Wormald1991pp21-3">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 21–3.</ref>{{clear}}

==Warfare==
{{Main|Warfare in Medieval Scotland}}
[[File:Otterburn Battle.jpg|thumb|right|[[The Battle of Otterburn]] (1388) in a miniature from [[Jean Froissart]], ''[[Froissart's Chronicles|Chroniques]]'']]
In the Early Middle Ages, war on land was characterised by the use of small war-bands of household troops often engaging in raids and low level warfare.<ref name=Alcock>L. Alcock, ''Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850'' (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), {{ISBN|0-903903-24-5}}, pp. 248–9.</ref> The arrival of the Vikings brought a new scale of naval warfare, with rapid movement based around the Viking longship. The [[birlinn]], which developed from the longship, became a major factor in warfare in the Highlands and Islands.<ref>N. A. M. Rodger, ''The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain. Volume One 660–1649'' (London: Harper, 1997) pp. 13–14.</ref> By the [[Scotland in the High Middle Ages|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.<ref>K. J. Stringer, ''The Reign of Stephen: Kingship, Warfare, and Government in Twelfth-Century England'' (Psychology Press, 1993), {{ISBN|0-415-01415-8}}, pp. 30–1.</ref> After the introduction of feudalism to Scotland, these forces were augmented by small numbers of mounted and heavily armoured knights.<ref name=Barrow1992pp9-11/> Feudalism also introduced castles into the country, originally simple wooden [[motte-and-bailey]] constructions, but these were replaced in the thirteenth century with more formidable stone "[[enceinte]]" castles, with high encircling walls.<ref name="West1985p26">T. W. West, ''Discovering Scottish Architecture'' (Botley: Osprey, 1985), {{ISBN|0-85263-748-9}}, p. 21.</ref> In the thirteenth century the threat of Scandinavian naval power subsided and the kings of Scotland were able to use naval forces to help subdue the Highlands and Islands.<ref name="Macquarrie2004p153"/>

Scottish field 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 Bannockburn in 1314 to secure Scottish independence.<ref>D. M. Barrell, ''Medieval Scotland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-521-58602-X}}, p. 108.</ref> He also made use of naval power to support his forces and began to develop a royal Scottish naval force.<ref name=Grant>J. Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", ''Publications of the Navy Records Society'', 44 (London: Navy Records Society, 1913-4), pp. i–xii.</ref> Under the Stewart kings these forces were further augmented by specialist troops, particularly [[men-at-arms]] and [[archery|archers]], hired by bonds of ''[[manrent]]'', similar to English [[indentures]] of the same period.<ref name=Brown2004>M. Brown, ''The Wars of Scotland, 1214–1371'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7486-1238-6}}, p. 58.</ref> New "[[livery and maintenance]]" castles were built to house these troops<ref name="West1985p26"/> and castles began to be adapted to accommodate gunpowder weapons.<ref name=West1985p27>T. W. West, ''Discovering Scottish Architecture'' (Botley: Osprey, 1985), {{ISBN|0-85263-748-9}}, p. 27.</ref> The Stewarts also adopted major innovations in continental warfare, such as longer pikes<ref>J. Cooper, ''Scottish Renaissance Armies 1513–1550'' (Botley: Osprey, 2008), {{ISBN|1-84603-325-X}}, p. 23.</ref> and the extensive use of artillery,<ref name=Caldwell2007>D. H. Caldwell, "The Scots and guns", in A. King and M. A. Penman, eds, ''England and Scotland in the Fourteenth Century: New Perspectives'' (Boydell & Brewer, 2007), {{ISBN|1-84383-318-2}}, pp. 60–72.</ref> and they built up a formidable navy.<ref name=Grant/> However, in the early fifteenth 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 in 1513, which saw the destruction of a large number of ordinary troops, a large section of the nobility and the king, James IV.<ref name="G. Menzies 2002 p. 179"/>

==Religion==
{{Main|Christianity in Medieval Scotland}}
[[File:Saint Margaret of Scotland.jpg|thumb|left|[[Saint Margaret of Scotland]], credited with the reform of Scottish monasticism, from a later genealogy]]
Christianity was probably introduced to what is now lowland Scotland from Roman soldiers stationed in the north of the province of [[Roman Britain|Britannia]].<ref>B. Cunliffe, ''The Ancient Celts'' (Oxford, 1997), {{ISBN|0-14-025422-6}}, p. 184.</ref> It is presumed to have survived among the Brythonic enclaves in the south of modern Scotland, but retreated as the pagan Anglo-Saxons advanced.<ref>O. Davies, ''Celtic Spirituality'' (Paulist Press, 1999), {{ISBN|0-8091-3894-8}}, p. 21.</ref> Scotland was largely converted by Irish-Scots missions associated with figures such as [[St Columba]] from the fifth to the seventh centuries. These missions tended to found [[monastery|monastic]] institutions and collegiate churches that served large areas.<ref>O. Clancy, "The Scottish provenance of the 'Nennian' recension of Historia Brittonum and the Lebor Bretnach " in: S. Taylor (ed.), ''Picts, Kings, Saints and Chronicles: A Festschrift for Marjorie O. Anderson'' (Dublin: Four Courts, 2000), pp. 95–6 and A. P. Smyth, ''Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-0100-7}}, pp. 82–3.</ref> Partly as a result of these factors, some scholars have identified a distinctive form of [[Celtic Christianity]], in which [[abbot]]s were more significant than bishops, attitudes to [[clerical celibacy]] were more relaxed and there was some significant differences in practice with Roman Christianity, particularly the form of [[tonsure]] and the method of [[Computus|calculating Easter]], although most of these issues had been resolved by the mid-seventh century.<ref name=Evans1985>C. Evans, "The Celtic Church in Anglo-Saxon times", in J. D. Woods, D. A. E. Pelteret, ''The Anglo-Saxons, synthesis and achievement'' (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1985), {{ISBN|0-88920-166-8}}, pp. 77–89.</ref><ref>C. Corning, ''The Celtic and Roman Traditions: Conflict and Consensus in the Early Medieval Church'' (Macmillan, 2006), {{ISBN|1-4039-7299-0}}.</ref> After the reconversion of [[Scandinavian Scotland]] from the tenth century, Christianity under papal authority was the dominant religion of the kingdom.<ref name=Macquarrie2004pp67-8>A. Macquarrie, ''Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation'' (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-2977-4}}, pp. 67–8.</ref>

In the Norman period the Scottish church underwent a series of reforms and transformations. With royal and lay patronage, a clearer parochial structure based around local churches was developed.<ref name=Macquarrie2004pp109-117>A. Macquarrie, ''Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation'' (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-2977-4}}, pp. 109–117.</ref> Large numbers of new foundations, which followed continental forms of reformed monasticism, began to predominate and the Scottish church established its independence from England, developed a clearer diocesan structure, becoming a "special daughter of the see of Rome", but lacking leadership in the form of archbishops.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006pp26-9>P. J. Bawcutt and J. H. Williams, ''A Companion to Medieval Scottish Poetry'' (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84384-096-0}}, pp. 26–9.</ref> In the Late Middle Ages the problems of schism in the Catholic Church allowed the Scottish Crown to gain greater influence over senior appointments and two archbishoprics had been established by the end of the fifteenth century.<ref name="Wormald1991pp75-87">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 76–87.</ref> While some historians have discerned a decline of monasticism in the Late Middle Ages, the [[mendicant]] orders of [[friar]]s grew, particularly in the expanding [[burgh]]s, to meet the spiritual needs of the population. New saints and cults of devotion also proliferated. Despite problems over the number and quality of clergy after the [[Black Death]] in the fourteenth century, and some evidence of heresy in this period, the church in Scotland remained relatively stable before the Reformation in the sixteenth century.<ref name="Wormald1991pp75-87"/>

==Geography==
{{Main|Geography of Scotland in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Anglo-Scottish.border.history.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The development of the border with England]]
Modern Scotland is half the size England and Wales in area, but with its many inlets, islands and inland [[lochs]], it has roughly the same amount of coastline at 4,000 miles. Only a fifth of Scotland is less than 60 metres above sea level. Its east Atlantic position means that it has very heavy rainfall: today about 700&nbsp;cm per year in the east and over 1,000&nbsp;cm in the west. This encouraged the spread of blanket [[peat bog]], the acidity of which, combined with high level of wind and salt spray, made most of the islands treeless. The existence of hills, mountains, quicksands and marshes made internal communication and conquest extremely difficult and may have contributed to the fragmented nature of political power.<ref>C. Harvie, ''Scotland: a Short History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), {{ISBN|0-19-210054-8}}, pp. 10–11.</ref>

The defining factor in the geography of Scotland is the distinction between the [[Highlands and Islands]] in the north and west and the [[Scottish lowlands|Lowlands]] in the south and east. The highlands are further divided into the [[Northwest Highlands]] and the [[Grampian Mountains]] by the fault line of the [[Great Glen]]. The lowlands are divided into the fertile belt of the [[Central Lowlands]] and the higher terrain of the [[Southern Uplands]], which included the [[Cheviot hills]], over which the border with England came to run by the end of the period.<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, p. 2.</ref> Some of these were further divided by mountains, major rivers and marshes.<ref name=Webster1997pp9-20>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 9–20.</ref> The Central Lowland belt averages about 50 miles in width<ref>''World and Its Peoples'' (London: Marshall Cavendish), {{ISBN|0-7614-7883-3}}, p. 13.</ref> and, because it contains most of the good quality agricultural land and has easier communications, could support most of the urbanisation and elements of conventional Medieval government.<ref name=Wormald1991pp39-40/> However, the Southern Uplands, and particularly the Highlands were economically less productive and much more difficult to govern. This provided Scotland with a form of protection, as minor English incursions had to cross the difficult southern uplands<ref>A. G. Ogilvie, ''Great Britain: Essays in Regional Geography'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952), p. 421.</ref> and the two major attempts at conquest by the English, under Edward I and then Edward III, were unable to penetrate the highlands, from which area potential resistance could reconquer the Lowlands.<ref>R. R. Sellmen, ''Medieval English Warfare'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 1964), p. 29.</ref> However, it also made those areas problematic to govern for Scottish kings and much of the political history of the era after the wars of independence circulated around attempts to resolve problems of entrenched localism in these regions.<ref name=Wormald1991pp39-40>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 39–40.</ref>

Until the thirteenth century the borders with England were very fluid, with Northumbria being annexed to Scotland by David I, but lost under his grandson and successor Malcolm IV in 1157.<ref>R. R. Davies, ''The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles, 1093–1343'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-19-820849-9}}, p. 64.</ref> By the late thirteenth century when the [[Treaty of York]] (1237) and [[Treaty of Perth]] (1266) had fixed the boundaries with the Kingdom of the Scots with England and [[Norway]] respectively, its borders were close to the modern boundaries.<ref>W. P. L. Thomson, ''The New History of Orkney'' (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008),  {{ISBN|1-84158-696-X}}, p. 204.</ref> The [[Isle of Man]] fell under English control in the fourteenth century, despite several attempts to restore Scottish authority.<ref>A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, eds, ''Uniting the Kingdom?: the Making of British History'' (London: Routledge, 1995), {{ISBN|0-415-13041-7}}, p. 101.</ref> The English were able to annexe a large slice of the Lowlands under Edward III, but these losses were gradually regained, particularly while England was preoccupied with the [[Wars of the Roses]] (1455–85).<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006p21>P. J. Bawcutt and J. H. Williams, ''A Companion to Medieval Scottish Poetry'' (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84384-096-0}}, pp. 21.</ref> The dowry of the Orkney and Shetland Islands in 1468 was the last great land acquisition for the kingdom.<ref name="J. Wormald, 1991 p. 5"/> However, in 1482 Berwick, a border fortress and the largest port in Medieval Scotland, fell to the English once again, for what was to be the final change of hands.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006p21/>

==Economy and society==

===Economy===
{{Main|Economy of Scotland in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim Coinage.JPG|thumb|left|upright|A silver penny of [[David I of Scotland|David I]], the first silver coinage to bear a Scottish king's head]]
Having between a fifth or sixth (15-20%) of the arable or good pastoral land and roughly the same amount of coastline as England and Wales, marginal pastoral agriculture and fishing were two of the most important aspects of the Medieval Scottish economy.<ref name=Gemmill&Mayhew1995pp8-10>E. Gemmill and N. J. Mayhew, ''Changing Values in Medieval Scotland: a Study of Prices, Money, and Weights and Measures'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), {{ISBN|0-521-47385-3}}, pp. 8–10.</ref> With poor communications, in the Early Middle Ages most settlements needed to achieve a degree of self-sufficiency in agriculture.<ref name=Woolf2007pp17-20>A. Woolf, ''From Pictland to Alba: 789 – 1070'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7486-1234-3}}, pp. 17–20.</ref> Most farms were based around a family unit and used an infield and outfield system.<ref>H. P. R. Finberg, ''The Formation of England 550–1042'' (London: Paladin, 1974), {{ISBN|978-0-586-08248-5}}, p. 204.</ref> Arable farming grew in the High Middle Ages<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-0104-X}}, p. 12.</ref> and agriculture entered a period of relative boom between the thirteenth century and late fifteenth century.<ref name=Rigby2003pp111-16>S. H. Rigby, ed., ''A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages'' (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003), {{ISBN|0-631-21785-1}}, pp. 111–6.</ref>

Unlike England, Scotland had no towns dating from Roman occupation. From the twelfth century there are records of burghs, chartered towns, which became major centres of crafts and trade.<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-0104-X}}, p. 98.</ref> and there is evidence of 55 burghs by 1296.<ref name=Webster1997pp122-3>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 122–3.</ref> There are also Scottish coins, although English coinage probably remained more significant in trade and until the end of the period barter was probably the most common form of exchange.<ref name=MacQuarrie2004pp136-40>A. MacQuarrie, ''Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation'' (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-2977-4}}, pp. 136–40.</ref><ref name=Stringer2005>K. J. Stringer, "The Emergence of a Nation-State, 1100–1300", in J. Wormald, ed., ''Scotland: A History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), {{ISBN|0-19-820615-1}}, pp. 38–76.</ref> Nevertheless, craft and industry remained relatively undeveloped before the end of the Middle Ages<ref name=Wormald1991pp41-55>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 41–55.</ref> and, although there were extensive trading networks based in Scotland, while the Scots exported largely raw materials, they imported increasing quantities of luxury goods, resulting in a bullion shortage and perhaps helping to create a financial crisis in the fifteenth century.<ref name=Wormald1991pp41-55/>

===Demography===
{{Main|Demographics of Scotland}}
There are almost no written sources from which to re-construct the demography of early Medieval Scotland. Estimates have been made of a population of 10,000 inhabitants in Dál Riata and 80–100,000 for Pictland.<ref name=Lang2006pp21-2>L. R. Laing, ''The Archaeology of Celtic Britain and Ireland, c. AD 400–1200'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), {{ISBN|0-521-54740-7}}, pp. 21–2.</ref> It is likely that the 5th and 6th centuries saw higher mortality rates due to the appearance of [[bubonic plague]], which may have reduced net population.<ref name=Fouracre&McKitterick2005p.234>P. Fouracre and R. McKitterick, eds, ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 500-c. 700'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), {{ISBN|0-521-36291-1}}, p. 234.</ref> The examination of burial sites for this period like that at Hallowhill, [[St Andrews]] indicate a life expectancy of only 26–29 years.<ref name=Lang2006pp21-2/> The known conditions have been taken to suggest it was a high fertility, high mortality society, similar to many developing countries in the modern world, with a relatively young demographic profile, and perhaps early childbearing, and large numbers of children for women. This would have meant that there were a relatively small proportion of available workers to the number of mouths to feed. This have made it difficult to produce a surplus that would allow demographic growth and more complex societies to develop.<ref name="Woolf2007pp17-20"/> From the formation of the Kingdom of Alba in the tenth century, to before the [[Black Death]] reached the country in 1349, estimates based on the amount of farmable land, suggest that population may have grown from half a million to a million.<ref>R. E. Tyson, "Population Patterns", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (New York, 2001), pp. 487–8.</ref> Although there is no reliable documentation on the impact of the plague, there are many anecdotal references to abandoned land in the following decades. If the pattern followed that in England, then the population may have fallen to as low as half a million by the end of the fifteenth century.<ref name=Rigby2003p109-11>S. H. Rigby, ed., ''A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages'' (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003), {{ISBN|0-631-21785-1}}, pp. 109–11.</ref> Compared with the situation after the redistribution of population in the later [[highland clearances|clearances]] and the [[Industrial Revolution]], these numbers would have been relatively evenly spread over the kingdom, with roughly half living north of the Tay.<ref>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, p. 61.</ref> Perhaps ten per cent of the population lived in one of many burghs that grew up in the later Medieval period, mainly in the east and south. It has been suggested that they would have had a mean population of about 2,000, but many would be much smaller than 1,000 and the largest, Edinburgh, probably had a population of over 10,000 by the end of the era.<ref name="Gemmill&Mayhew1995pp8-10"/>

===Social structure===
{{Main|Scottish society in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Scottish clan map.png|thumb|right|upright|Map showing Highland clans and Lowland surnames]]
The organisation of society is obscure in the early part of the period, for which there are few documentary sources.<ref name=Thronton2009>D. E. Thornton, "Communities and kinship", in P. Stafford, ed., ''A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland, c.500-c.1100'' (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), {{ISBN|1-4051-0628-X}}, pp. 98.</ref> Kinship probably provided the primary unit of organisation and society was divided between a small [[aristocracy]], whose rationale was based around warfare,<ref name=Haigh1999pp82-4>C. Haigh, ''The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), {{ISBN|0-521-39552-6}}, pp. 82–4.</ref> a wider group of freemen, who had the right to bear arms and were represented in law codes,<ref>J. T. Koch, ''Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia'' (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006), {{ISBN|1-85109-440-7}}, p. 369.</ref> above a relatively large body of slaves, who may have lived beside and become clients of their owners.<ref name="Woolf2007pp17-20"/>

By the thirteenth century there are sources that allow greater stratification in society to be seen, with layers including the king and a small elite of mormaers above lesser ranks of freemen and what was probably a large group of [[serfs]], particularly in central Scotland.<ref name=Grant1993>A. Grant, "Thanes and Thanages, from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries" in A. Grant and K. Stringer, eds., ''Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G. W. S. Barrow'' (Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, 1993), {{ISBN|0-7486-1110-X}}, p. 42.</ref> In this period the feudalism introduced under David I meant that baronial lordships began to overlay this system, the English terms [[earl]] and [[Thane (Scotland)|thane]] became widespread.<ref name=Grant1997>A. Grant, "Scotland in the Central Middle Ages", in A. MacKay and D. Ditchburn (eds), ''Atlas of Medieval Europe'' (Routledge: London, 1997), {{ISBN|0-415-12231-7}}, p. 97.</ref> Below the noble ranks were [[husbandmen]] with small farms and growing numbers of [[cottar]]s and gresemen with more modest landholdings.<ref name=Barrow1995>G. W. S. Barrow, "Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the twelfth century", in D. E. Luscombe and J. Riley-Smith, eds, ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume IV. 1024-c. 1198, part 2'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), {{ISBN|0-521-41411-3}}, p. 586.</ref>

The combination of [[agnatic]] kinship and feudal obligations has been seen as creating the system of [[Scottish clans|clans]] in the Highlands in this era.<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Robert Bruce'' (Berkeley CA.: University of California Press, 1965), p. 7.</ref> Scottish society adopted theories of the [[three estates]] to describe its society and English terminology to differentiate ranks.<ref>D. E. R. Wyatt, "The provincial council of the Scottish church", in A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, ''Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), {{ISBN|0-7486-1110-X}}, p. 152.</ref> Serfdom disappeared from the records in the fourteenth century<ref name=Goodacre1999pp57-60>J. Goodacre, ''State and Society in Early Modern Scotland'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), {{ISBN|0-19-820762-X}}, pp. 57–60.</ref> and new social groups of labourers, craftsmen and merchants, became important in the developing [[burgh]]s. This led to increasing social tensions in urban society, but, in contrast to England and France, there was a lack of major unrest in Scottish rural society, where there was relatively little economic change.<ref name=Wormald1991pp48-9>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 48–9.</ref>

==Culture==
{{Main|Culture of Scotland}}

===Language and culture===
{{Main|Celtic languages}}
[[File:Languages of Scotland 1400 AD.svg|thumb|upright|left|An interpretation of the linguistic divide c. 1400, based on place-name evidence.{{Legend|#357EC7|Gaelic}}
{{Legend|#ff0|Scots}}
{{Legend|#F87217|[[Norn language|Norn]]}}]]
Modern linguists divide Celtic languages into two major groups, the [[P-Celtic]], from which the [[Brythonic languages]]: [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Breton language|Breton]], [[Cornish language|Cornish]] and [[Cumbric]] derive, and the [[Q-Celtic]], from which come the [[Goidelic languages]]: [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Manx language|Manx]] and [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]. The Pictish language remains enigmatic, since the Picts had no written script of their own and all that survives are place names and some isolated inscriptions in Irish [[ogham]] script.<ref name=Haywoodp2004p116/> Most modern linguists accept that, although the nature and unity of Pictish language is unclear, it belonged to the former group.<ref>R. Mitchison, ''A History of Scotland'' (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-415-27880-5}}, p. 4.</ref> Historical sources, as well as place name evidence, indicate the ways in which the Pictish language in the north and Cumbric languages in the south were overlaid and replaced by Gaelic, [[Old English]] and later [[Norse language|Norse]] in this period.<ref>W. O. Frazer and A. Tyrrell, ''Social Identity in Early Medieval Britain'' (London: Continuum, 2000), {{ISBN|0-7185-0084-9}}, p. 238.</ref> By the High Middle Ages the majority of people within Scotland spoke the Gaelic language, then simply called ''Scottish'', or in Latin, ''lingua Scotica''.<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-0104-X}}, p. 14.</ref> The Kingdom of Alba was overwhelmingly an oral society dominated by Gaelic culture. Our fuller sources for Ireland of the same period suggest that there would have been [[filidh]], who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king, and passed on their knowledge and culture in Gaelic to the next generation.<ref name=Crawford2009/><ref name=Houston2002p76>R. A. Houston, ''Scottish Literacy and the Scottish Identity: Illiteracy and Society in Scotland and Northern England, 1600–1800'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), {{ISBN|0-521-89088-8}}, p. 76.</ref>

In the Northern Isles the Norse language brought by Scandinavian occupiers and settlers evolved into the local [[Norn language|Norn]], which lingered until the end of the eighteenth century<ref>G. Lamb, "The Orkney Tongue" in D. Omand, ed., ''The Orkney Book'' (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2003), p. 250.</ref> and Norse may also have survived as a spoken language until the sixteenth century in the [[Outer Hebrides]].<ref>A. Jennings and A. Kruse, "One Coast-Three Peoples: Names and Ethnicity in the Scottish West during the Early Viking period", in A. Woolf, ed., ''Scandinavian Scotland – Twenty Years After'' (St Andrews: St Andrews University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-9512573-7-4}}, p. 97.</ref> French, [[Flemish dialects|Flemish]] and particularly English became the main language of Scottish burghs, most of which were located in the south and east, an area to which Anglian settlers had already brought a form of Old English. In the later part of the twelfth century, the writer [[Adam of Dryburgh]] described lowland Lothian as "the Land of the English in the Kingdom of the Scots".<ref>K. J. Stringer, "Reform Monasticism and Celtic Scotland", in E. J. Cowan and R. A. McDonald, eds, ''Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages'' (East Lothian: Tuckwell Press, 2000), {{ISBN|1-86232-151-5}}, p. 133.</ref> At least from the accession of David I, Gaelic ceased to be the main language of the royal court and was probably replaced by French, as evidenced by reports from contemporary chronicles, literature and translations of administrative documents into the French language. After this "de-gaelicisation" of the Scottish court, a less highly regarded order of [[bard]]s took over the functions of the filidh and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century. They often trained in bardic schools, of which a few, like the one run by the [[MacMhuirich bardic family|MacMhuirich]] dynasty, who were bards to the [[Lord of the Isles]],<ref>K. M. Brown, ''Noble Society in Scotland: Wealth, Family and Culture from the Reformation to the Revolutions'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7486-1299-8}}, p. 220.</ref> existed in Scotland and a larger number in Ireland, until they were suppressed from the seventeenth century.<ref name=Houston2002p76/> Members of bardic schools were trained in the complex rules and forms of Gaelic poetry.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/> Much of their work was never written down and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century.<ref name=Crawford2009>R. Crawford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0QV8zUv3Fy0C&dq=bards+scotland+genealogy+praise+poetry&pg=PT97 ''Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature''] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-19-538623-X}}.</ref>

In the late Middle Ages, [[Middle Scots]], often simply called English, became the dominant language of the country. It was derived largely from Old English, with the addition of elements from Gaelic and French. Although resembling the language spoken in northern England, it became a distinct dialect from the late fourteenth century onwards.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 60–7.</ref> It began to be adopted by the ruling elite as they gradually abandoned French. By the fifteenth century it was the language of government, with acts of parliament, council records and treasurer's accounts almost all using it from the reign of James I onwards. As a result, Gaelic, once dominant north of the Tay, began a steady decline.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/> Lowland writers began to treat Gaelic as a second class, rustic and even amusing language, helping to frame attitudes towards the highlands and to create a cultural gulf with the lowlands.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/>

===Education===
{{Main|Education in Medieval Scotland}}
[[File:Tower of St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews Fife.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Tower of [[St Salvator's College, St Andrews]], one of the three universities founded in the fifteenth century]]
The establishment of Christianity brought Latin to Scotland as a scholarly and written language. Monasteries served as major repositories of knowledge and education, often running schools and providing a small educated elite, who were essential to create and read documents in a largely illiterate society.<ref name=Macquarrie2004p128>A. Macquarrie, ''Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation'' (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-2977-4}}, p. 128.</ref> In the High Middle Ages new sources of education arose, with [[choir school|song]] and [[grammar school]]s. These were usually attached to cathedrals or a [[collegiate church]] and were most common in the developing burghs. By the end of the Middle Ages grammar schools could be found in all the main burghs and some small towns. Early examples including the [[High School of Glasgow]] in 1124 and the [[High School of Dundee]] in 1239.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006pp29-30/> There were also petty schools, more common in rural areas and providing an elementary education.<ref name=Lynchpp104-7>M. Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'' (Random House, 2011), {{ISBN|1-4464-7563-8}}, pp. 104–7.</ref> Some monasteries, like the Cistercian [[Kinloss Abbey|abbey at Kinloss]], opened their doors to a wider range of students.<ref name=Lynchpp104-7/> The number and size of these schools seems to have expanded rapidly from the 1380s. They were almost exclusively aimed at boys, but by the end of the fifteenth century, Edinburgh also had schools for girls, sometimes described as "sewing schools", and probably taught by lay women or nuns.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006pp29-30/><ref name=Lynchpp104-7/> There was also the development of private tuition in the families of lords and wealthy burghers.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006pp29-30/> The growing emphasis on education cumulated with the passing of the [[Education Act 1496]], which decreed that all sons of barons and freeholders of substance should attend grammar schools to learn "perfyct Latyne". All this resulted in an increase in literacy, but which was largely concentrated among a male and wealthy elite,<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006pp29-30>P. J. Bawcutt and J. H. Williams, ''A Companion to Medieval Scottish Poetry'' (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84384-096-0}}, pp. 29–30.</ref> with perhaps 60 per cent of the nobility being literate by the end of the period.<ref name=Wormald1991pp68-72>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 68–72.</ref>

Until the fifteenth century, those who wished to attend university had to travel to England or the continent, and just over a 1,000 have been identified as doing so between the twelfth century and 1410.<ref name=Websterpp124-5/> Among these the most important intellectual figure was [[John Duns Scotus]], who studied at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and [[University of Paris|Paris]] and probably died at [[University of Cologne|Cologne]] in 1308, becoming a major influence on late Medieval religious thought.<ref name=Websterpp119>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 119.</ref> After the outbreak of the Wars of Independence, with occasional exceptions under safe conduct, English universities were closed to Scots and continental universities became more significant.<ref name=Websterpp124-5>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 124–5.</ref> Some Scottish scholars became teachers in continental universities. At Paris this included John De Rate and [[Walter Wardlaw]] in the 1340s and 1350s, William de Tredbrum in the 1380s and Laurence de Lindores in the early 1500s.<ref name=Websterpp124-5/> This situation was transformed by the founding of the [[University of St Andrews]] in 1413, the [[University of Glasgow]] in 1450 and the [[University of Aberdeen]] in 1495.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006pp29-30/> Initially these institutions were designed for the training of clerics, but they would increasingly be used by laymen who would begin to challenge the clerical monopoly of administrative post in the government and law. Those wanting to study for second degrees still needed to go elsewhere and Scottish scholars continued to visit the continent and English universities reopened to Scots in the late fifteenth century.<ref name=Websterpp124-5/> The continued movement to other universities produced a school of Scottish [[nominalists]] at Paris in the early sixteenth century, of which [[John Major (philosopher)|John Mair]] was probably the most important figure. He had probably studied at a Scottish grammar school, then Cambridge, before moving to Paris, where he matriculated in 1493. By 1497 the humanist and historian [[Hector Boece]], born in Dundee and who had studied at Paris, returned to become the first principal at the new university of Aberdeen.<ref name=Websterpp124-5/> These international contacts helped integrate Scotland into a wider European scholarly world and would be one of the most important ways in which the new ideas of [[humanism]] were brought into Scottish intellectual life.<ref name=Wormald1991pp68-72/>

===Literature===
{{Main|Scottish literature in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Gododdin1.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A page from the [[Book of Aneirin]] shows the first part of the text from the [[Y Gododdin]], c. sixth century]]
Much of the earliest [[Welsh-language literature|Welsh literature]] was actually composed in or near the country now called Scotland, in the Brythonic speech, from which [[Welsh language|Welsh]] would be derived, include ''The [[Y Gododdin|Gododdin]]'' and the ''[[Battle of Gwen Ystrad]]''.<ref>R. T. Lambdin and L. C. Lambdin, ''Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature'' (London: Greenwood, 2000), {{ISBN|0-313-30054-2}}, p. 508.</ref> There are also religious works in [[Middle Irish|Gaelic]] including the ''Elegy for [[St Columba]]'' by Dallan Forgaill, c. 597 and "In Praise of St Columba" by Beccan mac Luigdech of Rum, c. 677.<ref>J. T. Koch, ''Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia'' (ABC-CLIO, 2006), {{ISBN|1-85109-440-7}}, p. 999.</ref> In [[Latin language|Latin]] they include a "Prayer for Protection" (attributed to St Mugint), c. mid-sixth century and ''Altus Prosator'' ("The High Creator", attributed to St Columba), c. 597.<ref>I. Brown, T. Owen Clancy, M. Pittock, S. Manning, eds, ''The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: From Columba to the Union, until 1707'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7486-1615-2}}, p. 94.</ref> In Old English there is ''The [[Dream of the Rood]]'', from which lines are found on the [[Ruthwell Cross]], making it the only surviving fragment of [[Northumbrian (Anglo-Saxon)|Northumbrian]] [[Old English]] from early Medieval Scotland.<ref>E. M. Treharne, ''Old and Middle English c.890-c.1400: an Anthology'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2004), {{ISBN|1-4051-1313-8}}, p. 108.</ref> Before the reign of David I, the Scots possessed a flourishing literary elite that produced texts in both Gaelic and Latin, a tradition that survived in the Highlands into the thirteenth century.<ref>D. Broun, "Gaelic Literacy in Eastern Scotland between 1124 and 1249" in H. Pryce ed., ''Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies'' (Cambridge, 1998), {{ISBN|0-521-57039-5}}, pp. 183–201.</ref> It is possible that more Middle Irish literature was written in Medieval Scotland than is often thought, but has not survived because the Gaelic literary establishment of eastern Scotland died out before the fourteenth century.<ref>T. O. Clancy, "Scotland, the 'Nennian' recension of the Historia Brittonum, and the Lebor Bretnach", in S. Taylor, ed., ''Kings, Clerics and Chronicles in Scotland, 500–1297'' (Dublin/Portland, 2000), {{ISBN|1-85182-516-9}}, pp. 87–107.</ref> In the thirteenth century, [[Old French language|French]] flourished as a [[literary language]], and produced the ''[[Roman de Fergus]]'', the earliest piece of non-Celtic [[vernacular]] literature to survive from Scotland.<ref>M. Fry, ''Edinburgh'' (London: Pan Macmillan, 2011), {{ISBN|0-330-53997-3}}.</ref>

The first surviving major text in [[Early Scots]] literature is [[John Barbour (poet)|John Barbour]]'s ''[[The Brus|Brus]]'' (1375), composed under the patronage of Robert II and telling the story in epic poetry of Robert I's actions before the English invasion till the end of the war of independence.<ref>A. A. M. Duncan, ed., ''The Brus'' (Canongate, 1997), {{ISBN|0-86241-681-7}}, p. 3.</ref> Much Middle Scots literature was produced by [[makars]], poets with links to the royal court, which included James I (who wrote ''[[The Kingis Quair]]''). Many of the makars had a university education and so were also connected with the [[Mother Church|Kirk]]. However, Dunbar's ''[[Lament for the Makaris]]'' (c.1505) provides evidence of a wider tradition of secular writing outside of Court and Kirk, now largely lost.<ref>A. Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood, Scotland 1306–1469'' (Baltimore: Edward Arnold, 1984), pp. 102–3.</ref> Before the advent of printing in Scotland, writers such as [[Robert Henryson]], [[William Dunbar]], [[Walter Kennedy (poet)|Walter Kennedy]] and [[Gavin Douglas]] have been seen as leading a golden age in Scottish poetry.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/> In the late fifteenth century, Scots prose also began to develop as a genre. Although there are earlier fragments of original Scots prose, such as the ''Auchinleck Chronicle'',<ref>[[Thomas Thomson (advocate)|Thomas Thomson]], ed., ''[https://archive.org/stream/auchinleckchron00thomgoog#page/n1/mode/1up Auchinleck Chronicle]'' (Edinburgh, 1819).</ref> the first complete surviving work includes [[John Ireland (theologian)|John Ireland]]'s ''The Meroure of Wyssdome'' (1490).<ref>J. Martin, ''Kingship and Love in Scottish poetry, 1424–1540'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), {{ISBN|0-7546-6273-X}}, p. 111.</ref> There were also prose translations of French books of chivalry that survive from the 1450s, including ''The Book of the Law of Armys'' and the ''Order of Knychthode'' and the treatise ''[[Secretum Secretorum|Secreta Secetorum]]'', an Arabic work believed to be Aristotle's advice to [[Alexander the Great]].<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/> The landmark work in the reign of James IV was [[Gavin Douglas]]'s version of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', the ''[[Eneados]]'', which was the first complete translation of a major classical text in an [[Old English|Anglian]] language, finished in 1513, but overshadowed by the disaster at Flodden.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/>

===Art===
{{Main|Art in Medieval Scotland}}
[[File:Trinity Altarpiece.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Trinity Altarpiece]], attributed to Flemish artist [[Hugo van der Goes]] for the [[Trinity College Kirk]] in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the late fifteenth century]]
[[File:Early medieval hoard of Pictish silver objects dated c AD 800 from St Ninian's Isle, Shetland.jpg|thumb|Early medieval hoard of Pictish silver [[St Ninian's Isle Treasure|objects]] dated c AD 800 from St Ninian's Isle]]
In the early middles ages, there were distinct material cultures evident in the different linguistic groups, federations and kingdoms within what is now Scotland. Pictish art can be seen in the extensive survival of carved stones, particularly in the north and east of the country, which hold a variety of recurring images and patterns, as at [[Dunrobin Castle|Dunrobin]] ([[Sutherland]]) and [[Aberlemno]] stones ([[Angus, Scotland|Angus]]).<ref name=Graham-Campbell1998pp.7-8>J. Graham-Campbell and C. E. Batey, ''Vikings in Scotland: an Archaeological Survey'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), {{ISBN|0-7486-0641-6}}, pp. 7–8.</ref> It can also be seen in elaborate metal work that largely survives in buried hoards like the [[St Ninian's Isle]] Treasure.<ref>L. R. Laing, ''Later Celtic Art in Britain and Ireland'' (London: Osprey Publishing, 1987), {{ISBN|0-85263-874-4}}, p. 37.</ref> Irish-Scots art from the Kingdom of [[Dál Riata]] is much more difficult to identify, but may include items like the [[Hunterston brooch]], which with other items like the [[Monymusk Reliquary]], suggest that Dál Riata was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the [[Insular art|Insular style]] developed.<ref name=Lane2001>A. Lane, [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba62/feat1.shtml "Citadel of the first Scots"], ''British Archaeology'', 62, December 2001. Retrieved 2 December 2010.</ref> Insular art is the name given to the common style that developed in Britain and Ireland after the conversion of the Picts and the cultural assimilation of Pictish culture into that of the Scots and Angles,<ref>H. Honour and J. Fleming, ''A World History of Art'' (London: Macmillan), {{ISBN|0-333-37185-2}}, pp. 244–7.</ref> and which became highly influential in continental Europe, contributing to the development of [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic art|Gothic]] styles.<ref>G. Henderson, ''Early Medieval Art'' (London: Penguin, 1972), pp. 63–71.</ref> It can be seen in elaborate jewellery, often making extensive use of semi-precious stones,<ref>S. Youngs, ed., ''"The Work of Angels", Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork'' (London: British Museum Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7141-0554-6}}, pp. 72–115, and 170–4 and D. M. Wilson, ''Anglo-Saxon Art: From The Seventh Century to the Norman Conquest'' (Overlook Press, 1984), pp. 113–114 and 120–130.</ref> in the heavily carved [[High cross]]es found most frequently in the Highlands and Islands, but distributed across the country<ref name=Koch2006pp915-19>J. T. Koch, ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volumes 1–5'' (ABC-CLIO, 2006), {{ISBN|1-85109-440-7}}, pp. 915–19.</ref> and particularly in the highly decorated illustrated manuscripts such as the [[Book of Kells]], which may have been begun, or wholly created on Iona. The finest era of the style was brought to an end by the disruption to monastic centres and aristocratic life of the Viking raids in the late eighth century.<ref>[[C. R. Dodwell]], ''The Pictorial Arts of the West, 800–1200'' (Yale UP, 1993), {{ISBN|0-300-06493-4}}, pp. 85 and 90.</ref>

Scotland adopted the Romanesque in the late twelfth century, retaining and reviving elements of its style after the Gothic had become dominant elsewhere from the thirteenth century.<ref>T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), {{ISBN|0-19-162433-0}}, p. 190.</ref> Much of the best Scottish artwork of the High and Late Middle Ages was either religious in nature or realised in metal and woodwork, and has not survived the impact of time and of the Reformation.<ref name=Webster1997pp127-9/> However, examples of sculpture are extant as part of church architecture, including evidence of elaborate church interiors like the sacrament houses at Deskford and Kinkell<ref name=Whyte&Whyte1991p117>I. D. Whyte and K. A. Whyte, ''The Changing Scottish Landscape, 1500–1800'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 1991), {{ISBN|0-415-02992-9}}, p. 117.</ref> and the carvings of the [[seven deadly sins]] at [[Rosslyn Chapel]].<ref>S. H. Rigby, ''A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages'' (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003), {{ISBN|0-631-21785-1}}, p. 532.</ref> From the thirteenth century, there are relatively large numbers of monumental effigies like the elaborate Douglas tombs in the town of [[Douglas, South Lanarkshire|Douglas]].<ref>K. Stevenson, ''Chivalry and Knighthood in Scotland, 1424–1513'' (Boydell Press, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84383-192-9}}, pp. 125–8.</ref> Native craftsmanship can be seen in items like the [[Bute mazer]] and the [[Savernake Horn]], and more widely in the large number of high quality seals that survive from the mid thirteenth century onwards.<ref name=Webster1997pp127-9>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0-333-56761-7}}, pp. 127–9.</ref> Visual illustration can be seen in the illumination of charters,<ref>R. Brydall, ''Art in Scotland: its Origins and Progress'' (Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1889), p. 17.</ref> and occasional survivals like the fifteenth century [[Doom painting]] at [[Guthrie, Angus|Guthrie]].<ref>M. R. Apted and W. R. Robinson, [http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_095/95_262_279.pdf "Late fifteenth century church painting from Guthrie and Foulis Easter"], ''Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland'', vol. 95 (1964), pp. 262–79.</ref> Surviving copies of individual portraits are relatively crude, but more impressive are the works or artists commissioned from the continent, particularly the Netherlands, including [[Hugo van Der Goes]]'s altarpiece for the [[Trinity College Kirk|Trinity College Church in Edinburgh]] and the ''[[Hours of James IV of Scotland]]''.<ref name="Wormald1991pp57-9">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 57–9.</ref>{{clear}}

===Architecture===
{{Main|Architecture of Scotland in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Am linlithgow palace north west.jpg|thumb|left|[[Linlithgow Palace]], the first building to bear that title in Scotland, extensively rebuilt along Renaissance principles from the fifteenth century]]
Medieval [[vernacular architecture]] utilised local building materials, including [[cruck]] constructed houses, turf walls and clay, with a heavy reliance on stone.<ref>R. W. Brunskill, ''Houses and Cottages of Britain'' (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2nd edn., 2000), {{ISBN|0-575-07122-2}}, pp. 235–40.</ref> As burghs developed there were more sophisticated houses for the nobles, burgesses and other inhabitants.<ref name="MacQuarrie2004pp136-40"/> By the end of the period some were stone built with slate roofs or tiles.<ref>J. Hunter, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9CPK__7S3zkC&dq=medieval+burgh+merchants+houses&pg=PT48 ''Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland''] (London: Random House, 2011), {{ISBN|1-78057-006-6}}.</ref> Medieval parish church architecture was typically simpler than in England, with many churches remaining simple oblongs, without [[transept]]s and [[aisle]]s, and often without towers.<ref name=Whyte&Whyte1991p117/> From the eleventh century there were influences from English and continental European designs and grander ecclesiastical buildings were built in the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] style, as can be seen at [[Dunfermline Abbey]] and [[Elgin Cathedral]],<ref name=Maxwell2005pp22-3>I. Maxwell, ''A History of Scotland's Masonry Construction'' in P. Wilson, ed., ''Building with Scottish Stone'' (Edinburgh: Arcamedia, 2005), {{ISBN|1-904320-02-3}}, pp. 22–3.</ref> and later the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] style as at [[Glasgow Cathedral]] and in the rebuilding of [[Melrose Abbey]].<ref name="Wormald1991pp57-9"/> From the early fifteenth century the introduction of Renaissance styles included the selective return of [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] forms, as in the nave of [[Dunkeld Cathedral]] and in the chapel of Bishop Elphinstone's [[Kings College, Aberdeen]] (1500–09).<ref name=Glendinningetal1996pp3-4>M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ''A History of Scottish Architecture: From the Renaissance to the Present Day'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996), {{ISBN|0-7486-0849-4}}, pp.&nbsp;3–4.</ref> Many of the motte and bailey castles introduced into Scotland with feudalism in the twelfth century and the castles "[[enceinte]]", with a high [[battlements|embattled]] curtain wall that replaced those still in occupation, were slighted during the Wars of Independence. In the late Middle Ages new castles were built, some on a grander scale as "[[livery and maintenance]]" castles, to house retained troops.<ref name="West1985p26"/> [[Gunpowder]] weaponry fundamentally altered the nature of castle architecture, with existing castles being adapted to allow the use of gunpowder weapons by the incorporation of "keyhole" gun ports, platforms to mount guns and walls being adapted to resist bombardment. [[Ravenscraig Castle|Ravenscraig]], Kirkcaldy, begun about 1460, is probably the first castle in the British Isles to be built as an [[artillery]] fort, incorporating "D-shape" bastions that would better resist cannon fire and on which artillery could be mounted.<ref name="West1985p27"/> The largest number of late medieval fortifications in Scotland built by nobles were of the [[tower house]] design.<ref name=Stell2000p278>G. Stell, "War-damaged Castles: the evidence from Medieval Scotland," in ''Chateau Gaillard: Actes du colloque international de Graz (Autriche)'' (Caen, France: Publications du CRAHM, 2000), {{ISBN|978-2-902685-09-7}}, p. 278.</ref><ref name=Reid2006p12>S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84176-962-2}}, p. 12.</ref> primarily aimed to provide protection against smaller raiding parties, rather than a major siege.<ref name=Reid2006p33>S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84176-962-2}}, pp. 12 and 46.</ref> Extensive building and rebuilding of royal palaces in the Renaissance style probably began under [[James III of Scotland|James III]] and accelerated under [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]]. [[Linlithgow Palace|Linlithgow]] was first constructed under James I, under the direction of master of work John de Waltoun and was referred to as a palace, apparently the first use of this term in the country, from 1429. This was extended under James III and began to correspond to a fashionable quadrangular, corner-towered Italian signorial palace, combining classical symmetry with neo-chivalric imagery.<ref name=Glendinningetal1996p9>M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ''A History of Scottish Architecture: From the Renaissance to the Present Day'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996), {{ISBN|0-7486-0849-4}}, p. 9.</ref>

===Music===
{{Main|Music in Medieval Scotland}}
[[File:Stirling Castle Chapel Royal interior.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Chapel Royal, Stirling Castle]], a major focus for liturgical music]]
In the late twelfth century, [[Giraldus Cambrensis]] noted that "in the opinion of many, Scotland not only equals its teacher, Ireland, but indeed greatly outdoes it and excels her in musical skill". He identified the Scots as using the [[cithara]], [[Tympanum (hand drum)|tympanum]] and chorus, although what exactly these instruments were is unclear.<ref>A. Budgey, "Commeationis et affinitatis: Medieval musical relations between Scotland and Ireland", in R. A. McDonald, ''History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700–1560'' (University of Toronto Press, 2002), {{ISBN|0-8020-3601-5}}, p. 208.</ref> Bards probably accompanied their poetry on the [[harp]], and can also be seen in records of the Scottish courts throughout the Medieval period.<ref>W. McLeod, ''Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland, C.1200-c.1650'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-19-924722-6}}, p. 102.</ref> Scottish church music from the thirteenth century was increasingly influenced by continental developments, with figures like the musical theorist Simon Tailler studying in Paris, before returned to Scotland where he introduced several reforms of church music.<ref name="Elliott1973">K. Elliott and F. Rimmer, ''A History of Scottish Music'' (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973), {{ISBN|0-563-12192-0}}, pp. 8–12.</ref> Scottish collections of music like the thirteenth century 'Wolfenbüttel 677', which is associated with [[St Andrews]], contain mostly French compositions, but with some distinctive local styles.<ref name="Elliott1973"/> The captivity of James I in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release.<ref name="Elliott1973"/> In the late fifteenth century a series of Scottish musicians trained in the Netherlands before returning home, including John Broune, Thomas Inglis and John Fety, the last of whom became master of the song school in Aberdeen and then Edinburgh, introducing the new five-fingered organ playing technique.<ref name="Wormald1991">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 58 and 118.</ref> In 1501 James IV refounded the Chapel Royal within [[Stirling Castle]], with a new and enlarged choir and it became the focus of Scottish liturgical music. Burgundian and English influences were probably reinforced when Henry VII's daughter Margaret Tudor married James IV in 1503.<ref name="Gosman2003">M. Gosman, A. A. MacDonald, A. J. Vanderjagt and A. Vanderjagt, ''Princes and Princely Culture, 1450–1650'' (Brill, 2003), {{ISBN|90-04-13690-8}}, p. 163.</ref>{{Clear}}

==National identity==
{{Main|Scottish national identity}}
[[File:Royal Standard of Scotland.svg|thumb|left|The Royal Standard of Scotland, first adopted by king [[William I of Scotland|William I]] (1143–1214)]]
In the High Middle Ages the word "Scot" was only used by Scots to describe themselves to foreigners, amongst whom it was the most common word. They called themselves ''Albanach'' or simply ''Gaidel''. Both "Scot" and ''Gaidel'' were ethnic terms that connected them to the majority of the inhabitants of Ireland. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the author of ''[[De Situ Albanie]]'' noted that: "The name Arregathel [Argyll] means margin of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called 'Gattheli'."<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1922). vol. i, p. cxviii.</ref> Scotland came to possess a unity which transcended Gaelic, French and Germanic ethnic differences and by the end of the period, the Latin, French and English word "Scot" could be used for any subject of the Scottish king. Scotland's multilingual [[Scoto-Norman]] monarchs and mixed Gaelic and Scoto-Norman aristocracy all became part of the "Community of the Realm", in which ethnic differences were less divisive than in Ireland and Wales.<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-0104-X}}, pp. 122–43.</ref> This identity was defined in opposition to English attempts to annexe the country and as a result of social and cultural changes. The resulting antipathy towards England dominated Scottish foreign policy well into the fifteenth century, making it extremely difficult for Scottish kings like James III and James IV to pursue policies of peace towards their southern neighbour.<ref>A. D. M. Barrell, ''Medieval Scotland'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), {{ISBN|0-521-58602-X}}, p. 134.</ref> In particular the ''Declaration of Arbroath'' asserted the ancient distinctiveness of Scotland in the face of English aggression, arguing that it was the role of the king to defend the independence of the community of Scotland. This document has been seen as the first "nationalist theory of sovereignty".<ref name=Kidd2003pp17-18>C. Kidd, ''Subverting Scotland's Past: Scottish Whig Historians and the Creation of an Anglo-British Identity 1689–1830'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-521-52019-3}}, pp. 17–18.</ref>

[[File:Flag of Scotland.svg|thumb|right|The [[Flag of Scotland|Cross of St. Andrew]], adopted as a national symbol in this period]]
The adoption of Middle Scots by the aristocracy has been seen as building a shared sense of national solidarity and culture between rulers and ruled, although the fact that north of the Tay Gaelic still dominated may have helped widen the cultural divide between highlands and lowlands.<ref name=Wormald1991pp55-7/> The national literature of Scotland created in the late medieval period employed legend and history in the service of the crown and nationalism, helping to foster a sense of national identity, at least within its elite audience. The epic poetic history of the ''Brus'' and ''Wallace'' helped outline a narrative of united struggle against the English enemy. Arthurian literature differed from conventional versions of the legend by treating [[King Arthur|Arthur]] as a villain and [[Mordred]], the son of the king of the Picts, as a hero.<ref name=Wormald1991pp55-7>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp. 66–7.</ref> The origin myth of the Scots, systematised by [[John of Fordun]] (c. 1320-c. 1384), traced their beginnings from the Greek prince [[Gathelus]] and his Egyptian wife [[Scota]], allowing them to argue superiority over the English, who claimed their descent from the Trojans, who had been defeated by the Greeks.<ref name=Kidd2003pp17-18/> The image of St. Andrew, martyred while bound to an X-shaped cross, first appeared in the Scotland during the reign of William I and was again depicted on [[Seal (emblem)|seals]] used during the late thirteenth century; including on one particular example used by the [[Guardians of Scotland]], dated 1286.<ref name='NAS'>[http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/051124.asp "Feature: Saint Andrew seals Scotland's independence"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916085046/http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/051124.asp |date=16 September 2013 }}, ''The National Archives of Scotland'', 28 November 2007, retrieved 12 September 2009.</ref> Use of a simplified symbol associated with Saint Andrew, the [[saltire]], has its origins in the late fourteenth century; the Parliament of Scotland decreed in 1385 that Scottish soldiers should wear a white Saint Andrew's Cross on their person, both in front and behind, for the purpose of identification. Use of a blue background for the Saint Andrew's Cross is said to date from at least the fifteenth century.<ref>G. Bartram, [http://www.flaginstitute.org/images/page10_large.gif www.flaginstitute.org ''British Flags & Emblems''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109055700/http://www.flaginstitute.org/images/page10_large.gif |date=9 November 2012 }} (Edinburgh: Tuckwell Press, 2004), {{ISBN|1-86232-297-X}}, p. 10.</ref> The earliest reference to the Saint Andrew's Cross as a flag is to be found in the ''Vienna Book of Hours'', circa 1503.<ref name='Bartram'>G. Bartram, [http://www.flaginstitute.org/pdfs/Graham%20Bartram.pdf ''The Story of Scotland's Flags: Proceedings of the XIX International Congress of Vexillology''] (York: Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques, 2001), retrieved 12 September 2009.</ref>{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{Medieval Scotland}}
{{Middle Ages by region}}
{{Scotland topics}}

{{Subject bar|portal1=Middle Ages|portal2=Scotland|commons=yes|commons-search=Category:Medieval Scotland|d=yes|d-search={{#invoke:Wikidata|pageId}}}}

[[Category:Medieval history of Scotland]]