Part III � The Scottish Royalty
The kingdom of Scotland is best dated from the early years of the 11th century when four tribal kingdoms-Scots, Picts, British, and Angles, were amalgamated. Prior to that time, the area was filled with tribal wars and contentions.
The Scots had come from Ireland, a Christian land, and had brought their religion with them, which spread over the years. Some confusion is (encountered with dates, as several calendars were in use. In many cases, the spellings of the names is hard to unravel.
The original inhabitants were the Picts, who were probably survivors of the Bronze Age aborigines, associated with the great stone monuments, and whose ancient language has never been deciphered. They were first mentioned in A. D. 306. In 640 they defeated the Romans and harried the Roman provinces until conquered in 846 by Kenneth MacAlpin
The migration of colonies from the north of Ireland to the neighboring coasts of Scotland, made intimate intercourse early ages between the two countries. The first regular settlement mentioned by historians was made in the latter part of the second century by Caubre Riada, son of Condry the Second, King of Ireland. This expedition, which is mentioned in most annals, is confirmed by Bede in the following words: �In course of time Britain, besides the Britons and Picts, received a third nation, Scotia, which issued from Hiberia under the leadership of Riada secured for themselves, either by friendship or by the sword, settlements among the Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander they are still called Dalrendini. � (The Irish settlement in south west Scotland, Dalriada, remained an important political force for several centuries.)
There were other colonies, also, the most remarkable of which was that led by Fergus, Angus, and Loarn, the three sons of Princess Eorca (daughter of Loarn, the last King of Dalriada), which laid the foundation of the Scottish Monarchy. The country colonized by these emigrants was known by the name of Airen Gaedhil, i. e. the territory of the Gall or Irish; and the name is still applied to the territory in the shortened form of Argyle. One source of the ancient records is �Annals of the Four Masters.� Another is �Eccelastic History of The English Nation � Lib. 1, Cap. 1, by Bede.
Celt is the generic name of an ancient people that inhabited the central and western parts of Europe. They were a short and dark-complexioned race. The term was also applied to a Nordic group. The Celtics migrated to Ireland, during the 4th Century B. C., in small maritime colonies, which quickly merged in the native races. The principal result was that the Celtic overlords imposed the Celtic language on the natives.
They later established states, with the center being a convenient place of assembly for freemen. The chief who presided over such an assembly was entitled king, who also functioned as judge and leader in war. The nobles formed a senat, and were called companions of the king. The kingship was kept strictly within a family. Eventually, these states gathered together in five major groups. In the 2nd century, the Connnaught dynasty gained ground, dominating the fertile midland plain. In the 3rd century they made Tara their capital.
The earliest celebrated king of Tara was Cormac, reigning between the years 250 and 300.
Generation 30.
This dynasty reached its zenith under Niall Noigiallack, of the Nine Hostages at the beginning of the 5th Century, and were recognized as kings until 1002. Niall was 126 in the line of monarchs of Tara. The north-east kingdom was Dalriada, whose kings also ruled in Scotland. Niall was high king, who mobilized all Ireland against Roman Britain.
In his reign, about the year 406, on a marauding expedition by a band of Irish, St. Patrick was carried to Ireland as a slave, escaping after 6 years. At the head of a later expedition Niall was killed at sea by a Leinster prince, in 405, according to one calendar. St. Patrick led a mission in Ireland and succeeded rapidly, being received at the court of the high king, Loiguire, son of Niall. Loiguire, though unwilling to embrace the foreign creed, undertook to protect the Christian Bishop.
Children:
Generation 29. Prince Eugene, son of Niall, father of Muireadeach
Generation 28. Muireadeach, who married Eorca, daughter of Loarn
Generation 33. Kionga, King of Dalriada, in north-east Ireland
Generation 32. Fell, King of Dalriada
Generation 31. Eochaid Mulnremur, King of Dalriada
Generation 30. Ercc, (or Eorc) King of Dalriada
Generation 29. Loarn, the last King of Dalriada.
Generation 28. Princess Eorca (or Earca), daughter of Loarn, married Muireadeach, son of Prince Eugene, son of Niall, of the Nine Hostages, and had many sons and daughters.
Children:
Generation 27. Fergus, in 498 (or 424 a. d. by the Scottish chronicle,) �crossed over into Scotland with an army to aid his grandfather Loarn, King of Dalriada, against the Picts, and upon his death succeeded him as King of that country, being unanimously elected and chosen King, as being of the blood royal of his mother. Fergus was the first absolute King of Scotland of the Milesian race. Before him the Milesian Kings in Scotland were kings only of Dalriada. �So the succession continued in his blood and lineage ever since to this day. � Fergus established an Irish kingdom of Dalriada in Argyle, now Scotland. He ruled (for 3 years?) in succession to his brother Loarn, at an uncertain date of 498-501.
Children:
Generation 26. Domongart, (or Dongardus, or Donart), son of Fergus apparently briefly King of Dalriada in Scotland, at an uncertain date for a short time following his father�s death. He married Feldelm Foltchain, daughter of Grion, son of Eochaid Mugmedon.
Generation 25. Eochaidh, son of Domongart
Generation 24. Gabran. (or Goranus) He and his son are both called, in Welsh sources, �the treacherous.� Welsh pedigrees make him a son of Dyfnwalhen, allegedly of the line of Ceretic Guletic, regarded by later Welsh writers as an important ruler in northern Britain. According to Welsh Sources, his wife was Lleian, daughter of Brychan, the ruler who gave his name to Brecknock.
Gabran was also called a wise and excellent Prince. �He first instituted the office of the Kings�s Advocate. He persuaded Loth, a Pictish King, to league with Uter Pendragon, King of the Britons (who married Pendragon�s, daughter Ann, sister of King Arthur, of the Round Table), against the Anglo-Saxons in 502, and when the famous King Arthur mounted the British throne he aided him against the Saxons. Gabran was at last cut off, for one Toncetus, the Supreme Judge of Capital Crimes, a cruel and covetous man, expecting easy pardon of the King, the enraged people therefore cut him off, but finding they could not obtain the King�s mercy, they next slew the King himself, at the instigation of one Donald of Athol. This was in 535; he had reigned 34 years. His Queen and children fled to Ireland. (Others say that he died after a tedious sickness and was buried at Icolmkill, the royal burying place. )
He was succeeded by his nephew Eugenius II, who, instead of revenging his uncle�s death received Donald into favor, which made him suspected of having a hand in the conspiracy; Eugenius was succeeded by brother Congallus, who introduced heraldry, recalled the children of Gabran, but before they returned he died, in 568, having reigned ten years, and was succeeded by his younger brother Kinatellus, who courteously entertained Aedan, son of Gabran, and on his deathbed resigned to him.
Generation 23. Aedan. The details of his life and those of his children and grandchildren are well attested in the near-contemporary life of St. Columba, by Adamnan. Aedan succeeded his cousin, Kinatellus, 570 a. d., and received the royal insignia from St. Columba, a man at that time of such authority that neither King nor people did anything without his consent. Aedan�s first expedition was against the robbers of Galloway, whom he suppressed and severely punished their chiefs and established justice in the realm. He died 604 a. d., after ruling Dalriada in Scotland for about 37 years, and was buried at Icolmkill. Of his three sons, Arthur, Prince of Scotland, and Dongardus, the third son, were slain in battle against the Picts and Saxons, and his other son was:
Generation 22. Eochu Buide (Sometimes Eochaid Buide or Eugenius IV), was educated by St. Columba. The second son of Aedan, succeeded his father as King of the Picts, as his brothers had been killed. He kept the Saxons at work by his frequent raids upon them. He repaired all the churches in Scotland, and died in 622, buried at Icolmkill. His sons were:
Children:
Generation 21. Donald, (or Domnall Brecc) succeeded his brother in 636. He made it his main study to promote the true worship of God both at home and abroad, banished the Pelagian heretics and sent several learned and religious men to instruct the subjects of Osward, King of Northumberland, in the principles of Christianity, and leaving behind him the fame of his noble actions. In 637, Donald invaded Ireland from Scotland, and was defeated. He was killed at the battle of Strathcarron, 650 a. d., and was buried at Icolmkill. He is apparently the last king of Dalriada known to early Welsh tradition. He was succeeded by his son Malduinus.
Children:
Generation 20. Domongart, did not reign.
Generation 19. Eochaid II, (or Eugenius V) succeeded his uncle Malduinus in 688 as King of Dalriada. He was unable to hold onto his territory, and was so reduced that they never recovered their former state. Eugenius was killed 692 a. d., and buried at Icolmkill.
Generation 18. Aed Find, or Findanus, �The White�, King of Dalriada, died in 778 after ruling 30 years. He had 2 sons.
Children:
Generation 17. Eochaid IV, the Venomous, (or Eugenius VII) King of Dalriada, was elected King in 704, but not relying on his forces, he made a peace with the Pictish King Garnard and married his daughter, Spondans, who was soon after slain by two Atholians, who intended to have killed the King, but the authors of this fact were in time taken and executed. The King after this spent much of his time in hunting, and ordered that the actions of the kings should be preserved in the records of the monasteries; and having recommended Mordacus to succeed him, and reigning for 17 years, died in peace at Abernethy in 721, and was buried at Icolmkill.
Generation 16. Etfinus (or Aodh-Fionn), son of Eochaid, succeeded Mordacus in 730. He growing old committed the government of the Kingdom to four Viceroys or Assistants. They all mismanaged their affairs, and were cruel and wicked. The king reigned 31 years, died in 761, and was buried at Icolmkill.
Children:
Generation 15. Achaius, one of the three sons of Etfinus, was king after his brother Fergus III. �Being at peace with the English and Picts, Achaius also made a league with the French. After this Achaius aided Hungus, King of the Picts, with 10,000 men, under his son Alpin, against Athelstan, ruler in Northumberland, which he wasted; but when Athelstan pursued them, Hungus prayed to St. Andrew, who with his cross appeared and promised the victory; so Athelstan was routed and slain, and the place called Athelstan�s ford to this day; so ever since the Scots have carried St. Andrew�s cross in their banner. Achaius married Fergusia, only daughter of Hungus, or Unjust, King of the Picts, by whom the Scots came to be kings of the Picts by hereditary right as well as by conquest. � Achaius reigned 32 years and died in 819.
Generation 14. Alpin, son of Achaius, began ruling in 831. He was taken in battle with the Picts, with many of his nobles, who were all cruelly executed, and the King�s head upon a pole was carried through the army and fixed as a spectacle in the capital of the Picts at Abernethy; slain in Galloway in 834. The place where Alpin was killed is called Bass Alpin, or the Death of Alpin, to this day.
Children:
Generation 13. Cinaed, (Kenneth II) The famous Kenneth MacAlpin, was made King in 834. He was attacked by the Picts, but while they were in confusion, a few Scottish youth went by night and brought the head of King Alpin to King Kenneth, who rewarded them with lands. Kenneth was finally able to get his nobles to march against the Picts, slew their King and all his nobility and defeated them seven times in one day. Thus, he was the first to unite the Picts and Scots, and became King of all Scotland in 839. He removed the fatal marble stone from Argyle to Scone, or Fort Teviot, the old palace of the Pictish kings, and translated the seat of the Pictish Bishop from Abernethy to St. Andrews. He died on Tuesday the Ides of February 858, according to the Pictish table, but the Scots historians say 854, and that he was buried at Icolmkill. He was succeeded by his brother. His son Constantine II, was King in 900, abdicated in 942 His son indulf, was King in 954, abdicated in 962 Son Cuilean, King in 966, killed in 971 Son Constantine III, King 995, killed 997
Children:
Generation 12. Constantine II, son of Kenneth, succeeded his uncle Donald V. He was King of Scotland in 862, until he was taken in battle by the Danes in 877 at a place called The Black Cove in Angus and beheaded, buried at Icolmkill.
Generation 11. Donald VI, son of Constantine II, succeeded Gregory the Great, was King of Scots in 889, until he was killed in battle, in 900, and was buried at Icolmkill. He was a Virginialiant and good King, and so maintained peace but he was ever prepared for war. He aided the English against the Danes, to whom he gave a great overthrow, reduced the thieves of Ross and Murray.
Generation 10. Malcolm I, son of Donald VI, was King in 943, until he also was killed in battle in 954, by the Murry men, and buried at Icolmkill. He received Cumberland and Westmoreland from King Edmund I on condition that his successors should do homage to that monarch for these lands.
Children:
Generation 9. Kenneth II, son of Malcolm I, was made King of Scots in 976, until he was murdered in 994, buried at Icolmkill.
Generation 8. Malcolm II, King of the Scots, son of Kenneth II, was King from 1005 until he died in 1034. Malcolm fought a battle in 1008 at Carham with Uchtred, and overcame the Danes in 1017. He published a code of laws. He was murdered 25 November 1034, and buried at Icolmkill. He was succeeded by his grandson, Duncan. He had three daughters.
Children:
Generation 7. Bethoc (Beatrix), daughter of Malcolm, was married in 1000, to Crinan, the chief Thane, or leader or governor of the Scots Islands, lay Abbot of Dunkeld, (also called Albanach or Grimus), who was born in 987 and was killed in battle in 1045.
Children:
Generation 6. Duncan I, son of Bethoc and Crinan, was married to Sybil, a cousin of Siward, Danish Earl of Northumberland. in 1034, Duncan had already succeeded by inheritance to the throne of Strathclyde, which included the other tribes. He was made King of Scotland, in 1034.
Duncan, the Duncan of Shakespeare�s �Macbeth,� the first ruler of the historical kingdom of Scotland, did not experience �plenteous joy� which brought tears into his eyes in the play. He met with defeats both from the Northumbrians and from the Norsemen, and on 14 August 1040 he was slain in a civil war by his own general, Macbeth, who ascended the throne. Macbeth was defeated and slain by Malcolm Canmore, the son of Duncan. Macbeth was succeeded by Lulach, great grandson of Kenneth III. Lulach was killed in battle a year later, and succeeded by Malcom Canmore. Duncan was buried at Icolmkill.
Children:
Malcolm Canmore, after defeating Macbeth, was proclaimed King Malcolm III, at Scone 25 April 1057. The kingdom was Celtic, and was in a disordered state. Malcom was married/1 to Ingibiorg, daughter or widow of Thorfinn, Earl of Oikney.
He was married/2 to Margaret, of Britain, the daughter of Edward the Exile and Princess Agatha of Hungary. (See Hungary)
The condition of the church shocked the conscience of Malcolm�s wife, Margaret, who after the Norman Conquest, had sought refuge in Scotland with her brother, Edgar the Atheling, (See Old English Kings) After their marriage in 1070, English influence increased in Scotland, and southern places such as Edinburgh and Dunfermline became the chief residences of the court. For the rest of his reign Malcolm was involved in fighting against William the Conqueror and his sons.
Margaret was a woman of saintly life. She was canonized a century and a half after her death, in 1250. Her own desire was to be a nun, like her sister. She would have been the glory of a cloister, but she accepted her mission to redeem an ignorant and almost schismatic nation. She was not destined to fulfill that mission herself, but its accomplishment was, nonetheless, her work. Her most important personal achievements were the introduction of a English-speaking court and of English-speaking clergy, and the education of her children in English ways and traditions. They had six sons, four of them named after Saxon kings of England. Margaret�s three sons, who successively came to the throne, had some personal experience of English life. She had a daughter who married King Henry I of England.
Malcolm and his son Edward were killed in 1093 in one of the raids on the north of England from which his pious wife Virginiainly tried to restrain him. She herself lay dying, when her son Edgar brought her the news. After her death, there was a Celtic reaction against the English influences, and the English court was driven out. Edgar and his brothers Alexander and David took refuge in England. It was with English help that Edgar regained his throne in 1097; He died 10 years later, and was succeeded by Alexander, and he in turn by David. The three brothers were all their mother�s sons, and they continued her work. All three were pious and all three were English in tastes and sympathies, and were bent upon converting Celtic Scotland into a feudal kingdom of the Anglo-Norman type.
Children:
Donald III, King of Scotland, succeeded to the throne after his brother�s death. He was born in 1034, in Perth, Perthsire, Scotland, and died in 1097, in Rescobie, Angus, Scotland.
He was married to Hextilda FitzAndlaw, who was born in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, and died 16 November 1093, in Scotland.
Children:
Huctred Tyndale, was the son of Waltheof II of Huntington, and was born in 1096, in Tynedale, Scotland, and died in 1152, in Sancio, Johnson, Scotland.
Generation 4. David I, The Saint, son of Malcolm III and Margaret, the Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton, was born about 1080, and became King of Scotland in 1124. He was more familiar with English ways than any of his brothers. His sister was married to Henry I and he spent some years of his youth at the English court, made friends with Anglo-Norman barons and married the widow of one of them. David was married to Maud, Countess of Huntingdon, daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, and granddaughter of Earl Siward.
David planted many English monasteries in many districts of Scotland, and endowed them so liberally that he acquired a reputation for sanctity. He changed the system of landownership, and the civil and ecclesistical organization was gradually remodeled in accordance with European institutions. While this process of anglicization was in progress, political relations with England were not, for many years, entirely friendly. The borderline between the two countries had not been definitely ascertained. Northumberland was, in particular, a bone of contention.
David I died in 1153, his son had predeceased him, and his young grandson Malcolm IV, became king. Henry II had yielded Northumberland to the Scots, but then repudiated it in 1157, Malcolm was forced to surrender. Malcolm IV died without issue.
Children:
Generation 3. Prince Henry, son of David I and Maud, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland, was born in 1114, and died at Stirling, 4 December in 1152 (before his father). He was married in 1139 to Adeline, who died in 1178, daughter of William De Warenne, Earl of Surrey., and Elizabeth
William�s father was William, Earl Warren, in arms at the battle of Mortimer, 1055, who was married to Gundred, daughter of William The Conqueror and Maud, daughter of Baldwin V., Count of Flanders. (See the Old English Family, Part III)
Elizabeth was the daughter of Hugh the Great, Earl of Vermandois, Switzerland, and the widow of Robert, Earl of Mellant.
Children:
Generation 2. William The Lion, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland, King of Scotland, Brother and successor of Malcolm IV in 1165, William hoped to regain Northumberland by joining the English rebels against Henry II in 1173-74. His capture near Alnwick in July 1174, not only put an end to such expectations but resulted in the temporary loss of Scottish independence. Henry released William only after forcing him to consent to the treaty of Falaise (1174) by which he did homage avowedly for the Scottish crown. The treaty was canceled 15 years later by an agreement between William and Richard I, in which his daughter Isabella�s husband Baron Robert De Ros, Furson played a part.
William continued to hope for the restoration of Northumberland. He offered to purchase it in 1194, but refused to accept it when Richard I proposed to exclude from the bargain the right of holding fortified castles. He made further unavailing efforts.
His son Alexander II (1214-1249), William�s successor, tried to seize Northumberland during the struggle which followed the grant of Magna Carta, but was not successful. His reign witnessed the last of the Celtic revolts against the policy of anglicization, and in his later years Scotland entered upon a period of consolidation and prosperity which continued throughout the reign of his son, Alexander III.
Alexander III (1249-86) was the nephew and also the son-in-law of Henry II, and his relations both with him and with his brother-in-law, Edward I, were on the whole friendly. Tradition regards this, the last of the old line of Scottish kings, as a golden age.
Alexander III was killed by a fall from his horse in March 1286. His only living legitimate descendant was an infant granddaughter, who died two years later. The dispute over the throne, was claimed by several, including briefly, Robert De Ros, 1st Baron Ros, a great grandson of Alexander�s aunt Isabella. The contest became a Civil War, between Robert Bruce and John Balliot, both cousins of Robert de Ros.
The mother of William the Lion�s natural daughter Isabella, was Ermengarde, who died 1234, the daughter of 2nd Viscount, Richard Avenal, De Beaumont, a Norman and English family, taken from Beaumont-le-Roger in Normandy. Richard (2nd Vis.) son of Richard (1st vis), son of Philip de Bellomonte, Lord of Highampton (yr 1096)
(More research could be done here)
Children:
1. Isabella, daughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland, and Ermengarde, was married first to the fourth Robert Bruce. She had at least one son, the fifth Robert Bruce. The eighth Robert Bruce, (Robert I, the Bruce), became king of Scotland in 1306
Isabelle was married secondly in 1191, in Haddington, to Baron Robert De Ros, surnamed Furson, who was born before 1170, and died in 1227. (See Ros Family, Part III)
Bibliography
Encyclopedia Britannia, Vol. 20, pages 145-148; Vol 12, pages 598-601
Dictionary of National Biographies, Vol. 16
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, by Winston Churchill
Who�s Who in History