THE TRIBE IN SCOTLAND.
[Sidenote: Early notices of tribal organisation.]
In investigating the early social state of the Celtic inhabitants of
Great Britain, we possess an advantage which does not attach to that of
Ireland. For the Pagan period in the latter country we have no
information except what is derived from native tradition; but in Britain
we possess in addition a few incidental notices by contemporary writers
of other countries, both as regards the native population of the Roman
province and the Barbarian nations beyond its limits. These notices, few
and general as they are, yet indicate the presence of a social
organisation very similar to that of Ireland.
When we are told by one Greek writer ‘that its aboriginal tribes inhabit
Britain, in their usages still preserving the primitive modes of life,
and that they have many kings and princes;’[241] by another, ‘that there
are several states amongst them. Forests are their cities; for having
enclosed an ample space with felled trees, here they make themselves
huts and lodge their cattle;’[242] when Cæsar tells us of the
inhabitants of the interior, whom he calls indigenous, that ‘they did
not resort to the cultivation of the soil for food, but were dependent
upon their cattle and the flesh of animals slain in hunting for their
food;’[243] when Solinus reports of the inhabitants of the five Western
Isles forming the southern group, that ‘they knew nothing of the
cultivation of the ground, but lived upon fish and milk,’ which latter
implies the possession of herds of cattle, ‘and that they had one king,
who was not allowed to possess property;’[244] when Tacitus speaks ‘of
the numerous states beyond the Firth of Forth,’ and describes the great
Caledonian army which Agricola encountered at the Mons Granpius as a
federation of all the states of the northern population; and when we are
told of the two great divisions of them in the third century—the
Caledonians and the Mæatæ—‘that they inhabit mountains wild and
waterless, and plains desert and marshy; that they live by pasturage and
the chase, and that their state is chiefly democratical;’[245]—we can
see that they consisted of an aggregation of tribes occupying the land
in common, and whose chief possessions consisted of cattle. When these
writers add that they had their wives in common, they indicate at least
that looser relation between the sexes which usually prevailed before
the introduction of Christianity had invested a stricter rule of
marriage with its sanction, and which led to a connection through
females as being regarded with more favour than that through males.
[Sidenote: The tribe among the Picts.]
When we come down, however, to Christian times, we find the existence of
the _Tuath_ both as the tribe and as the tribe territory fully
recognised as characterising the social organisation of the population
of Gaelic race. The ancient tract, termed the _Amra Choluim Chilli_, of
Dallan Forgaill, preserved in the _Liabhar na h-Uidre_, contains
repeated references to the _Tuaths_ both in the sense of tribes and of
their territories, and as regards the Pictish nation as well as the
Dalriadic colony. Thus we are told that Saint Columba ‘illuminated
countries and territories’ (_Tir agus Tuatha_), and that from him ‘the
_Tuaths_ used to be disciplined.’ Again, when it is said, ‘Through an
idolatrous _Tuath_ he meditated criminality,’ which is explained to
mean, ‘when going through the _Tuath_ or territories of the idols he
would know their criminality towards God,’ it can only refer to the
pagan nation of the Picts; and when we are told that ‘he sought seven
_Tuaths_, viz., the five _Tuaths_ of Erin, and two _Tuaths_ in Alban,’
the latter must be identified with the territory given him by the Picts,
who, according to Bede, inhabited the districts adjacent to Iona. In
another passage, when St. Columba is referred to as ‘the son of
Fedelimid for whom used to fight or whom used to serve the twenty
_Tuaths_,’ the word is probably used in the sense of tribes, and it is
still more plainly used in this sense, as existing among the southern
Picts, when he is described as ‘the teacher who used to teach the tribes
who were around Tai, that is, the name of a river in Alban,’ which can
obviously be identified with the river Tay. In another passage they are
referred to as the people of the Tay (_Lucht Toi_); and the _Tuaths_ or
tribes are indicated as existing both among the Dalriads and the Picts,
when he is called ‘the champion who bound new things for the alliance of
Conall, that is, the champion of the new things is not here for
alliance, that is, for confirming the alliance of Conall, that is,
between the _Tuaths_ of Conall within, or at making their alliance with
other _Tuaths_ externally.’[246] Conall was the king of Dalriada at the
time when St. Columba came over from Ireland to Scotland, and the other
_Tuaths_ or tribes which were external to his kingdom can only refer to
the neighbouring tribes of the Picts. The undoubted antiquity of this
tract gives great value to these incidental references to the existence
of the _Tuath_ or tribe, not only among the Scots of Dalriada, where we
might expect to meet them, but also among the two great races of the
northern and southern Picts, and this is confirmed by other authorities
of a later date. Thus, in the tract called ‘The Genealogy of Corca
Laidhe,’ referred to in a previous chapter, we read that ‘Irial Glumnar,
son of Conall Cearnach, had two sons, viz., Forc and Iboth. Rechtgidh
Righdearg led them into Alban. They gained great battles, so that great
districts were laid waste in Alban, until the men of Alban submitted to
Rechtgidh Righdearg, so that he was king of Erin and Alban; and it was
from them sprang the two _Tuaths_ or tribes, _Tuath Forc_ and _Tuath
Iboth_ in Alban.’[247] Rechtgidh Righdearg was one of the mythic pagan
kings of Ireland, and Irial Glumnar a traditionary hero of the
_Cruithnigh_, or Picts of Ulster; but it is a fair inference from it
that two _Tuaths_ or tribes bearing the names of Forc and Iboth were
known in Scotland, and the name Forc, which is the old form of that of
the river Forth, indicates their situation on the northern shore of that
river or estuary, that is, among the southern Picts. That a social
organisation similar to the Irish tribal system prevailed among the
southern Picts, to whom St. Columba’s mission was mainly directed, is
confirmed by the Gaelic entries in the Book of Deer, which open with the
statement that ‘Columba and Drostan, son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came
from Hi, as God had shown them, unto _Abbordoboir_ or Aberdour, and Bede
the _Cruthnech_ or Pict, who was _Mormaer_ of Buchan, gave them that
town in freedom for ever from _Mormaer_ and _Toisech_;’ thus exactly
corresponding to the grant of land to the church of Kells, quoted in a
former chapter as free from rent, tribute, hosting, coigny, or any other
claim of king or _Toisech_. Where there are _Toisechs_ there are
_Tuaths_, and the district of Buchan probably formed a _Mortuath_ like
the other districts ruled over by a _Mormaer_, the equivalent in
Scotland of the _Ri Mortuath_ of the Irish system.
[Sidenote: The tribe in Dalriada.]
The Scottish kingdom of Dalriada was at this time confined within very
narrow limits, and could hardly claim a higher position than that of a
_Mortuath_, as we find that it consisted of three tribes, termed, in the
tract ‘Of the History of the Men of Alban,’ the three powerfuls in
Dalriada. These were the _Cinel Gabran_, the _Cinel Angus_, and the
_Cinel Loarn_, who traced their descent from the three sons of
Eochaidh—Fergus, Angus, and Loarn—who led the colony from Irish
Dalriada. We obtain from this tract some valuable information as to the
constitution of these tribes. The _Cinel Gabran_ occupied Kintyre in its
old extent, including Knapdale, the district of Cowall, and the islands,
that is, of Arran and Bute, and consisted of five hundred and sixty
houses. The _Cinel Angusa_ possessed Isla and Jura, and consisted of
four hundred and thirty houses. The _Cinel Loarn_ possessed the
extensive district of Lorn, extending from Lochleven to the Point of
Ashnish, and part of the opposite coast of Morvern, and consisted of
four hundred and twenty houses. The districts thus occupied by these
tribes surrounded an inner region, extending from the range of mountains
called Drumalban to the arms of the sea termed Lochs Craignish and
Crinan, consisting of the two districts of Lochaw and Ardskeodnish. This
inner region seems to have been left to the older inhabitants of the
country, and to have borne the name of _Airgialla_, possibly for the
same reason that that name was applied to the extensive region in the
heart of Ulster, wrested by the Scots under the three Collas from the
Irish Picts.[248] The houses of which these three tribes consisted
seemed to have formed groups of twenty houses each, as we are told that
their sea muster assigned twice seven benches or seats for rowers to
each twenty houses, but the armed muster for the _Sluaged_ or hosting
was, for the _Cinel Gabran_ three hundred men, for the _Cinel Angusa_
five hundred men, and for the _Cinel Loarn_ seven hundred men, but one
hundred of these were furnished by the people of _Airgialla_.[249]
[Sidenote: The tribe in Galloway.]
The only other districts of modern Scotland in which a Gaelic population
remained are those of the Lennox and of Galloway, and in the latter we
can trace the remains of the same tribal system. Thus in the year 1276
we find King Alexander the Third confirming a charter by which Neil,
Earl of Carrick, granted and confirmed to Roland of Carrick and his
heirs the right of being head of their kin in all pleas relating to
_kenkenoll_ and the office of bailie, and the leadership of the men of
the country under the earl. This shows that the _Cinel_ or tribe, with
its head or _Ceannchinel_, had formerly existed among the Gaelic
population of Galloway; and the same thing is indicated by some notices
of lost charters preserved in the ancient Index published in 1798. Thus
there is a charter by David II. to Donald Edzear of the captainship of
_Clanmacgowin_, and a charter ‘anent the Clan of _Muintircasduff_,[250]
John M‘Kennedy captain thereof;’ this term of Captain being the
equivalent of the _Toisech_ of the Irish and Scottish Gael,[251] and the
word _Muintir_, or people, being one of the appellations of a tribe.
[Sidenote: Modification of original tribes under foreign influences.]
These indications of the existence of a tribal organisation analogous to
that in Ireland among the Celtic population during the period when, with
the exception of Saxon Lothian, both king and people were Celtic,
comprise in the main the information we are able to gain from the most
trustworthy sources available to us; but after the purely Celtic dynasty
of kings of Scottish race came to an end in the eleventh century in the
person of Malcolm the Second, this tribal system became exposed to
powerful external influences, which greatly modified its character, and
finally resulted in its disappearance in the eastern districts under
feudal forms, and its passing over in the mountainous regions of the
north and west into the clanship which was afterwards found there.
[Sidenote: Passing of the Mortuath into the Earldom, and the Tribe into
the Thanage.]
Soon after the death of Malcolm the Second the northern districts of
Scotland fell under the dominion of the Norwegian Earl of Orkney, while
the Celtic _Mormaer_ of Moray reigned in a kingdom the centre of which
was at Scone; but when the usurper was expelled by the heir through a
female of the ancient line, and Malcolm Ceannmor was established on the
throne by the powerful aid of the Angles of Northumberland under their
Earl Siward, and the northern districts reverted to his sway on the
death of the Norwegian Earl, Saxon influences became predominant; and
the new dynasty, still more closely connected with the Saxons through
the marriage of its founder with the Saxon Princess Margaret, found its
support mainly in the Anglic population of Lothian, which now became the
most important province of the extended monarchy. His son Eadgar reigned
in reality as a Saxon monarch, and when on his death the kingdom was
divided between his brothers Alexander and David, the former
consolidated his kingdom north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde upon the
basis of Saxon institutions, while the latter ruled over the districts
of British Strathclyde and Anglic Lothian as a feudal lord, with Norman
sympathies and supported by a powerful following of Norman nobles.
During the reigns of Eadgar and Alexander there was a silent advance of
Saxon colonisation, and a progressive assimilation of the people to
Saxon customs, which led to a Saxon nomenclature being imposed upon
their Celtic institutions which found analogous forms in the Saxon laws;
and thus in the kingdom of Alexander the First we find the Celtic
_Mormaer_ appearing as _Comes_ or Earl, while the name of _Thanus_ or
thane was applied to the _Toisech_,[252] and the tribe territory is now
termed _Thanagium_ or Thanage. In the British district of Strathclyde
the Celtic forms disappeared before the advancing feudalism of David;
and when upon the death of his brother he became the first feudal king
of all Scotland and its first lawgiver, the constitution of his kingdom
was based upon the feudal system; and as its leading principle was that
the king was feudal superior of all the territory, and all rights to
land emanated from him, all land not given out as feudal holdings was
held to be Crown land, and the tribe territories not placed under feudal
lords, and now termed Thanages, were regarded as royal demesnes.[253]
When Fordun, therefore, in the forty-third chapter of his fourth book,
tells us that ‘of old almost the whole kingdom was divided into
Thanages,’ he was not referring to that fabulous state of matters
described in a previous chapter, when _Thanes_ were supposed to be
governors of provinces, with an _Abthane_ over them as high steward—a
state of matters which never existed in Scotland; but, as is evident
from the context, to those smaller territories termed _Thanages_ in his
own day, and, viewing these _Thanages_ as representing the more ancient
_Tuaths_ or tribe territories, he is reporting a genuine tradition of
the tribal organisation which preceded the Saxon and feudal forms.
[Sidenote: Distinction of people into free and servile classes.]
The principal fragments of the ancient tribal law which we find still
preserved in the subsequent legislation were those relating to the fines
paid in compensation for different offences, analogous to those
contained in the Irish and Welsh Laws; and these afford us the best
indications of the different ranks or grades of society in the old
tribal system. We find in Scotland, as in Ireland and Wales, the broad
distinction between the free and servile classes. Thus in the laws of
King William the Lion there is preserved this fragment of the older
system ‘of the law that is callyt weregylt. Of euery thief through all
Scotland the weregehede is xxxiiii. ky and one half, whether he be a
freeman or a serf (_liber sive servus_).’[254]
[Sidenote: Classes of freemen.]
Of the classes of freemen these laws regarding fines afford us complete
information. Among the laws attributed to King David I. is a fragmentary
code termed ‘Leges inter Brettos et Scottos.’ It is preserved in Latin,
in Norman French, and in the vernacular Scotch. By the Bretti are meant
the Britons of Strathclyde, and the term Scotti now comprehended the
whole inhabitants of the country north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde.
David had ruled over the former as earl during the reign of Alexander
the First, and on his accession to the throne seems in this short code
to have recognised as law the system of fines which existed among his
Celtic subjects both of Gaelic and of British race, and to have included
them in a short code applicable to both. It contains the fines paid in
compensation for slaughter, termed here _Cro_, a word signifying death;
but it is said to be equivalent to the _Galnes_ or _Galanas_ of the
Welsh laws, and also to the _Enauch_ or Honor price of the Irish.
Another fine for slaughter is called _Kelchyn_, and the fines for ‘Blude
drawn’ seem to be the _Saraad_ of the Welsh. They were termed _Bludwyts_
in Saxon and _Fuilrath_ in Gaelic.[255]
The _Cro_ of the King of Scotland is said to be one thousand ‘ky’ or
three thousand ‘ore’ or ounces of gold, three ounces being the value of
a cow, and his _Kelchyn_ is one hundred ‘ky.’
The _Cro_ of the king’s son,—that is, the Tanist of the Irish Laws, or
of an Earl of Scotland, who is thus placed in the same rank,—is seven
score ‘ky’ and ten ‘ky.’ His _Kelchyn_ is three score ky and six ky and
two parts of a cow; and for Blude drawn, nine ky.
The _Cro_ of the son of an Earl, or of a Thane, who is placed in the
same rank, is one hundred ky. His _Kelchyn_, forty-four ky and
twenty-one pence and two-thirds of a penny; and for Blude drawn, six ky.
The _Cro_ of the son of a Thane is three score ky and six ky and two
parts of a cow. His _Kelchyn_ is less by a third than his father’s, and
is twenty-nine ky and elevenpence and the third part of a halfpenny; and
for Blude drawn, three ky.
The _Cro_ of the nevow or grandson of a Thane, or of ane _Ogethearn_, is
forty-four ky and twenty-one pence and two parts of a penny. His
_Kelchyn_ is not given, but for Blude drawn it is two ky and two parts
of a cow.
We are then told that all these who are lower in the _kyn_ (parentela)
are callit _Carlis_ (_rustici_, vilayn), and that the _Cro_ of a _Carl_
is sixteen ky, that he has no _Kelchyn_, and that the ‘Blud’ of a _Carl_
is one cow.
We have also in this code a section ‘Of thaim that are slayn in the
peace of the King and other lordis.’
‘Giff ony man be slayn in the peis of our lord the Kyng, til him
perteins nine score ky.’
If in the peace of the sone of the King or of an Earl, four score and
ten ky.
If in the peace of the son of an Earl or of a Thayn, three score ky.
If in the peace of the son of a Thane, forty ky; and if in the peace of
a nevo or grandson of a Thane, twenty ky and two parts of a cow.’[256]
The names of the different ranks here are analogous to the Irish system,
where the son of each grade occupied the rank of the next inferior
grade.[257] The Earl was the Scottish _Mormaer_, the _Ri Mortuath_ of
the Irish. The Thanus or thane was the _Toisech_. The _Ogethearn_ is the
Irish word _Ogthighearna_, one of the names applied to the second class
of the _Gradflatha_,[258] or those _Aires_ who received stock from a
superior _Aire_. They were also called _Oglaochs_. The fines occupy an
intermediate place between those of the Irish and of the Welsh Laws, but
most resemble the latter; and the distinction between the free and bond
classes and the rights of the _kyn_ are clearly indicated from the
following addition it made to the account of the _Kelchyn_ fine:—‘If the
wife of a freeman (liberi hominis) be slain, her husband shall have the
_Kelchyn_, and her kyn shall have the _Cro_ and the _Galnes_. If the
wife of a _Carl_ (_rustici_, vileyn) be slain, the lord in whose lands
he dwells shall have the _Kelchyn_, and her _kyn_ shall have the _Cro_
and the _Galnes_.’
A fragment has also been preserved giving the _merchet_ or maiden-fee
paid to the superior on the marriage of the daughter of a dependant. It
is the _Amobr_ or _Gobr merch_ of the Welsh Laws:—‘According to the
assize of the land of Scotland, the _merchet_ of every woman, whether
she be a serf or mercantile, was one calf or three shillings. If she was
the daughter of a freeman who was not lord of a township, her _merchet_
was one cow or six shillings. If the daughter of the son of a thane or
of a _ochethiern_, two cows or twelve shillings. If the daughter of an
earl, twelve cows.’[259]
The fines which were paid for abstaining from attending the king’s
hosting are preserved in the Statutes of Alexander the Second, where the
following ‘record was made at St. Johnstoun or Perth before the king be
all the “dempsteris” (judices) of Scotland in the seventh year of the
king’s reign, or A.D. 1221,‘ after the king had been in hosting at
Inverness against Donald Neilson.’ They thus declare that ‘of those that
remained away from the host, the king shall have the forfeiture of the
erlis if their thanes’ (that is, the earls’ thanes) ‘remained from the
host; but how much that forfalture should be was not determined. Of all
others which remained at home—that is to say, of the lands of bischopis,
abbotis, baronis, knychtis, and thaynis which hold of the king, the king
alone ought to have the forfalture; that is to say, of a thane, vi cows
and a calf; of an _ochtyern_, xv sheep or vi shillings; but the king
tharof shall have but the one half, and the thane or the knycht the
other half. Of a _Carl_, a cow and a sheep; and they also are to be
divided between the king and the thane or the knycht.’ ‘But when by the
leave of the thane or the knicht they remained behind the king, he shall
have all the forfalt. For no earl nor sergand of the erlis in the land
of any man holding of the king ought to come to raise that default but
the Erl of Fyffe, and he shall not come as earl but as the _Mair_ of the
king of his rights to be raised within the earldom of Fyffe. Of the
_Cairlis_, however, where the king and the earl divide betwixt them, the
king and the earl shall have the one half and the thane the other half;
but where the thane falls in forfalt it shall be divided between the
king and the earl, as in the laws of King William is declared.’[260]
The analogy between this arrangement and the system of fines for
withdrawing from hosting contained in the Irish Laws will be apparent at
once, and the different grades here given are the same as those in the
code of David I., though adapted to a period when the thane appears as
the vassal of the king or of the earl, and the _ochtyern_ as the vassal
of the thane.
[Sidenote: Ranks of bondmen.]
The different ranks of the bondmen or unfree class have also been
preserved in the code of laws termed _Quoniam attachiamenta_. They are
there termed native-men (_nativi_), and we are told that there are
several kinds of nativity or Bondage (_nativitatis sive bondagii_). For
some are native-men of their grandfather and great-grandfather, which is
commonly called _de evo et trevo_, whom their lord may claim to be
naturally his native-men by narrating their progenitors, if their names
are known, as his great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his father,
who are challenged, declaring them to have been his native-men in such a
township and in such a spot in that township, and to have made and
rendered to him and his predecessors servile service in a servile land
for many years; and this nativity or bondage may be proved by the kin of
him who is challenged or by a good assize.
Another kind of bondage is similar to this, when any stranger receives
servile land from any lord doing servile service for that land; and if
he dies in that land and his son likewise dies in that land, and
afterwards his son lives in the same land and dies there, then his whole
posterity to the fourth degree shall be of servile condition to his
lord, and his whole posterity may be proved in a similar manner.
The third kind of _nativity_ or bondage is when a freeman, in order to
have a lord or the maintenance (_manutenencia_) of any great man, gives
himself up to that lord to be his native or bondman (_nativum seu
bondum_) in his court by the hair of his forehead; and if he thereafter
withdraws himself from his lord, or denies his _nativitie_ to him, his
lord may prove him to be his native-man before the justiciary by an
assize, challenging him that he in such a day in such a year came to him
in his court and gave himself up to be his man; and if any one is
adjudged to be the native or bondman to any lord, that lord can seize
him by the nose and reduce him to his former servitude, taking from him
all his goods to the value of four pence.[261]
These definitions of the different kinds of _nativi_ or bondmen may no
doubt apply to a later period than we are now referring to, and be more
or less connected with feudal forms, but we may, notwithstanding, infer
that they preserve the characteristics of the servile class in Celtic
times; for, although the upper classes may in the Lowland districts have
been superseded by Saxon or Norman proprietors holding their lands in
feudal tenure, the servile occupiers of the soil of Celtic race who were
attached to the land would remain and become the villains of the feudal
lord; and so we find that wherever they appear in the Chartularies they
possess Celtic names.
We see from the above description that their connection with their lord
was of two kinds—first, by occupying under him servile land; and second,
by placing themselves under him as personal bondmen; and of the former
class, they were either natives by descent or strangers who had taken
land from him, and the latter became native serfs after four
generations. Here we recognise at once the _Sencleithe_ or old adherents
of the Irish law, and the _Bond Fuidhir_, who became _Sencleithe_ after
four generations. The latter class of personal serfs are the _Mogha_ of
the Irish and the _Caeth_ of the Welsh Laws. The Celtic names by which
these two classes were known in feudal times have also been preserved to
us. Thus, in the Chartulary of Scone, King William the Lion grants a
mandate directing that if the abbot of Scone or his sergands shall find
in the lands or in the power of others any of the _Cumlawes_ and
_Cumherbes_ pertaining to his lands, he may reclaim them;[262] and in
the Chartulary of Dunfermline, the foundation charter by King David the
First grants that all his serfs and all his _Cumerlache_ from the time
of King Edgar shall be restored to the Church wherever they may be
found, and the scribe interprets the word _Cumer lache_ by _fugitivi_ on
the margin; and in a mandate by the same king to the same effect the
title is ‘Of the _fugitivi_ which are called _Cumerlache_.’[263] In the
last syllable of the name _Cumherbes_ or _Cumarherbe_ we can recognise
the Irish word _Orba_, applied to that part of the tribe territory which
had become the private property of the chiefs; and this name was no
doubt applied to that class of serfs whose bondage was derived from
their possessing servile land. They were the _ascripti glebae_ of feudal
times. The term _Cumlawe_ or _Cumarlawe_ is simply a translation of the
Latin term _manutenencia_, which characterised the third kind of bondage
above described, and whose tie to their master being a personal one, led
to their frequently escaping from hard usage and being reclaimed as
fugitives.[264] Thus among the laws of King William the Lion we find one
declaring that any one who detains a native fugitive man (_nativi
fugitivi_) after he has been demanded by his true lord or his bailie,
shall restore the said native-man with all his chattels, and shall
render to his lord the double of the loss he has sustained.[265]
[Sidenote: Measures of land.]
As in Ireland and Wales, so also in Scotland, the ancient measures of
land were closely connected with the tribal system, but here too we find
them more greatly affected by external influences than in the two former
countries. When we examine the most ancient land-measures of that part
of Scotland lying north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, we do not find
the same local varieties which can be traced in the different provinces
of Ireland and Wales, but instead, a great and leading difference
between those of the eastern and the western districts. In the eastern
districts there is a uniform system of land denominations consisting of
Davachs, Ploughgates, and Oxgangs, the davach consisting of four
ploughgates, and each ploughgate of eight oxgangs; but as soon as we
cross the great chain of mountains separating the eastern from the
western waters, we find a different system equally uniform. The
ploughgates and oxgangs disappear, and in their place we find davachs
and penny lands. The portion of land termed a _davach_ is here also
called a _Tirung_ or ounce land (_unciata terra_), and each davach or
_Tirung_ contains twenty penny lands.
The davach[266] being the only denomination common to both parts of the
country, we may infer that it belongs to the old Celtic system of
land-measures, and that the others are foreign importations. Now we find
in the ancient province of Lothian, which originally formed part of the
Anglic kingdom of Northumbria and possessed an Anglic population, the
land-measures consisted of Carucates or ploughgates, and Bovates or
oxgangs. The oxgang contained thirteen acres, two oxgangs made a
husband-land, and eight oxgangs a ploughgate, which thus consisted of
104 acres of arable land. On the other hand, in the islands of Orkney
and in the district of Caithness, which were formerly a Norwegian
earldom under the king of Norway, we find the land was valued according
to a standard of value derived from the weight of silver, the unit being
the ounce or _Eyrir_, eight ounces forming the _Mörk_ or pound, and
twenty pennings one ounce,[267] and thus the land-measures consisted of
_Oers_ or ounce lands, the ounce lands containing either eighteen or
twenty penny lands. They seem to have been so called, because under the
Norwegian rule each homestead paid one penny as _scat_.
It is therefore a fair inference that, with the Saxon colonisation, the
Saxon denominations superseded the older Celtic lesser denominations, as
forming the subdivisions of the Davach in the eastern districts, while
in the western seaboard and in the islands, which were for a time under
Norwegian rule, the Norwegian denominations replaced the Celtic, but in
both cases they were adapted to the existing divisions of land, which
could not be altered without interfering with the whole framework of
society. The Carucate or ploughgate was a term known to the Irish
system, and may likewise have existed in Scotland in Celtic times, as it
appears in Highland charters under the name of _Arachor_, the Gaelic
equivalent of the Latin _Aratrum_,[268] but seems sometimes to have
contained 160 acres in place of 104, and consisted of a definite measure
of arable land with common pasture;[269] and we find from a charter of a
Carucate or ploughgate of land on the Nith, that the common pasture
carried 24 cattle and 100 sheep,[270] and the minor terms can probably
still be traced in the topography of the districts. We have the words
_Ballin_, _Bal_, from _Baile_, a town, entering into many local names in
both parts of the country, as well as the word _Teaghlach_ or family,
corrupted into Tully and Tilly, as in Tullynessle, Tillymorgan, etc.
Then in the east there are the Pits, the old form of which, as appears
from the Book of Deer, was _Pette_ or _Pett_. It is there uniformly
connected with a personal name, as if it was applied to a single
homestead, as in _Pette mac Garnait_, _Pett mac Gobrig_, and _Pett
Malduib_, and the affix Pitt seems to have a similar meaning in the old
entry in the Chartulary of St. Andrews, where we read of the ‘villula’
or homestead, which is called Pitmokane.[271] In the western districts
we find the penny land also entering into the topography, in the form of
_Pen_ or Penny, in such names as Pennyghael, Pennycross, Penmollach,
while the halfpenny becomes _Leffen_, as in Leffenstrath; and if the
group of twenty houses, which we found characterising the early tribe
organisation in Dalriada, was the Davach, then we obtain the important
identification of these houses or homesteads with the later penny lands.
We find notices in the charters connected with this part of the country
of the _Shammark_, equal to two penny lands, of Cow lands, probably the
Irish _Ballyboe_, and of Horsegangs.[272] When these western districts
fell under the rule of the Scottish monarchs, the valuation of land
called the Old Extent seems to have been to some extent introduced. In
the eastern districts it corresponded so far with the land measures,
that the ploughgate was the same as the forty shilling or a three-merk
land;[273] but the merk land in the west appears to have had no uniform
relation to the penny land, though in Lochaber we find that five penny
lands were equal to a forty-shilling land, which seemed to indicate that
here also the ploughgate was the fourth part of a Davach, and consisted
of five homesteads; on the other hand, we are told that each township in
Isla consisted of two and a half merk lands.[274] The state of these
districts probably gave the Davachs and penny lands a fluctuating value,
which depended more upon the pasture and the stock it carried than on
the arable land. There is an old tradition that the Davach was land
capable of pasturing 320 cows, and that a merk land was as much land as
would graze twelve milch cows, ten yeld cows, including three-year-olds,
twelve two-year-olds, twelve year-olds, four horses, four fillies, mares
and followers, one hundred sheep, and eighty goats.[275] The two systems
of land measure appear to meet in Galloway, as in Carrick we find the
measure by Penny lands, which gradually become less frequent as we
advance eastward, where we encounter the extent by merks and pounds,
with an occasional appearance of a penny land, and of the Bovate or
oxgang in Church lands.
[Sidenote: Burdens on the land.]
The burdens upon the land held by the community in Scotland seem to have
been principally four. We find them still attaching to the Crown and the
Church lands during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and they are
analogous to those connected with the Irish tribe system. They were
_Cain_, _Conveth_, _Feacht_, and _Sluaged_. The two former were fixed
payments in kind. The two latter were services to which the possessor of
the land was subject. They are rendered in Latin by the words
_expeditio_ and _exercitus_. We find these burdens in both of the
leading divisions of the country north of the firths. Thus, by a deed
dated at Lismore in the year 1251, Sir Ewen, son of Duncan de Erregathil
(Argyll), granted to William, bishop of Argyll, fourteen penny lands in
Lismore, free of all secular exactions and dues—viz., _Cain_,
_Coneveth_, _Feacht_, _Sluaged_, and _Ich_—and of all secular
services;[276] and similarly Roger, bishop-elect of St. Andrews, granted
between 1188 and 1198, when he was consecrated, the lands of Duf Cuper
to the church and canons of St. Andrews, free of ‘_Can_ et _Cuneveth_ et
exercitu et auxilio et ab omni servicio et exactione seculari.’[277]
[Sidenote: The _Cain_ or _Can_.]
We find during this period that these dues and services were derived by
the king from the Crown lands, and by the superiors from lands not held
feudally. Thus King David grants to the monks of Dunfermline the tithe
of his whole _Can_ from Fif and Fothrif, likewise the tithe of his _Can_
of Clacmannan, and the half of his tithe of Ergaithel (Argyll) and
Kentir in that year, to wit, in which he receives _Can_ from it, and
these grants are repeated by his successor Malcolm IV.[278] King David
likewise grants to the church of Urchard (Urquhart) the tithe of the
_Can de Ergaithel de Muref_, that is, that part of the great province of
Ergadia or Ergaithel which belonged to Moray, extending from the Leven
to the border of North Argyll.[279] King William confirms to the bishop
of Moray the _Cana et Coneveta_ which his predecessors had received from
those who held land of the bishops during the time of King David and
King Malcolm;[280] and in an agreement in 1225 between the bishop and
Walter Cumyn of Badenoch, the bishop frees him from any claim he had for
the tithe of the _Can_ of his lord the king from the lands of
Badenoch.[281]
In Aberdeenshire we find the Earl of Mar granting to the bishop of St.
Andrews the tithe of the ‘redditus’ or _Can_ of his whole lands;[282]
and Thomas the Hostiary gives to the canons of Monimusk ten bolls of
meal and ten stones of cheese from his lands of Outherheicht, which is
afterwards called the _Can_ of Houctireycht.[283]
In Mearns or Kincardine Earl David of Huntingdon grants to the church
and canons of St. Andrews the whole _Kan_ and _Kuneveth_, which they
were due him, from the lands of Ecclesgirg, and the services which his
men of Eccleskirch were bound to render him.[284] Then in the beginning
of the thirteenth century the record of a dispute between the bishop of
St. Andrews and the abbot of Arbroath is preserved to us in the
chartulary of that church, regarding the lands of Fyvy, Tarves,
Innerbondy, Munclere, Gamery, Inverugy, and Monedin, and the _Can_ or
redditus and _Conevet_ of these lands, which the bishop resigns to the
abbot free of every exaction, reserving to himself the ancient
‘redditus’ of Monedin, viz., three shillings and sixpence, and the
portion of the _Conevet_ which was wont to be paid at Bencorin or
Banchory; and in the same Chartulary there is a grant by King William to
the abbey of Arbroath of the ferry and ferrylands of Munros, to be held
free ‘ab exercitu et expeditione et operatione et auxilio et ab omnibus
consuetudinibus et omni servicio et exactione;’ and the earl of Angus
grants them the lands of Portincraig in similar terms, as free ‘ab
exercitu et expeditione et exactione multure et ab omnibus auxiliis et
geldis et omnibus serviciis et exactionibus;’ the ‘exercitus’ and
‘expeditio’ being the _Sluaged_ and _Feacht_ of the Gaelic
charters.[285]
Then in Fife we find in a rental of the earldom a certain _firma_ or
rent which is termed _Canus_, with ten shillings of the _Can_ of
Abernethy; and in Stratherne we find the bishops of Dunkeld confirming
to the canons of Inchaffray the lands of Maderty, which is called
_Abthan_, and the freedom from the _Cane_ and _Coneveth_ which the
clerics of Dunkeld were wont anciently to receive from these lands.
These notices will be sufficient to show that these Celtic burdens on
land prevailed over the whole of the country north of the Firths, on the
crown lands and those of the church, and on all lands which had not
become the subject of feudal grants.
Passing then to the country south of the Firths, we find them equally
prevalent, except in the great Anglic province of Lothian. Thus King
David grants to the church of Glasgow the whole tithe of his _Chan_ in
the beasts and pigs of Strathegrive and Cuninghame, Kyle and Carrick, in
each year, unless the king himself shall go to dwell there and consume
his own _Chan_.[286] These districts formed the greater part of the
ancient British kingdom of Strathclyde, and this was an appropriate
grant to the church of Glasgow, which had been its metropolitan church.
Then we find the lords of Galloway granting lands in that district to
the canons of Holyrood, free from all ‘_Can_ and _Cuneveht_ and from
every exaction, custom, and secular service;’[287] and finally, at a
court held by the judges of Galloway at Lanerch in the reign of King
William the Lion, in presence of the Lord of Galloway, it was adjudged
that ‘when the king ought to receive his _Can_ from Galloway he should
issue his breve to the _Mairs_ of Galloway, and the _Mairs_ should go
with the royal breve to the debtor of the _Can_ and exact the _Can_ from
him. If he fail to pay, the _Mair_ was to take the rod or staff, called
the king’s staff, and take a distress for the king’s _Can_, and if the
debtor removed the subject of the distress he was to pay for each ten
cows fifteen cows, besides a hundred cows _de misericordia_; but if he
delivered part of the _Can_, till after the Nativity he was to pay for
each cow four shillings of cow-tax, and for each pig sixteen pence, and
before the Nativity the debtor was to deliver cows worth forty pence,
and if he stated on oath that he had no pigs, he was to pay for each pig
seventeen pence.’[288]
This last notice will explain in some degree what the burden termed
_Cain_ or _Can_ really was, and how it was exacted. It consisted of a
portion of the produce of the land, in grain when it was arable land,
and in cattle and pigs when pasture land. It was in fact the outcome of
the _Bestighi_ or food-rent of the Irish laws, and the _Gwestva_ of the
Welsh laws, paid by every occupier of land to his superior. Over the
whole of Scotland, except in Lothian, it was a recognised burden upon
the crown lands and upon all land not held by feudal tenure, but it
ceased as soon as the possessor of the land was feudally invested. Thus
we find in the Moray Chartulary an agreement between the bishop of Moray
and Thomas de Thirlestan, who had received a feudal grant of the lands
of Abertarff, regarding a half-davach of land, which the bishop asserted
belonged to the church, and regarding the tithes of the royal _Can_
payable from the lands of Abertarff before his feudal investiture (_ante
infeodationem_). There is a similar agreement between the bishop and
James, son of Morgund, regarding certain lands in his fief of Abernethy,
and regarding the tithes of the _Can_ which was wont to be paid to the
king from these lands before his feudal investiture, and another between
the bishop and Gilbert the Hostiary regarding the tithes of the _Can_
which he was wont to pay annually to the king from the lands of
Strathbroc and Buleshe before his feudal investiture (_ante
infeodationem_).[289] The _Can_ or _Chan_ was so termed from the Gaelic
word _Cain_, the primary meaning of which was ‘law.’ It was the
equivalent of the Latin word _canon_, and like it was applied to any
fixed payment exigible by law.[290]
[Sidenote: Conveth.]
Conveth was the Irish _Coinmhedha_ or Coigny, derived, according to
O’Donovan, from _Coinmhe_, which signifies feast or refection. It was
the _Dovraeth_ of the Welsh laws, and was founded upon the original
right which the leaders in the tribe had to be supported by their
followers. It came to signify a night’s meal or refection given by the
occupiers of the land to their superior when passing through his
territory, which was exigible four times in the year, and when the tribe
territory came to be recognised as crown land, it became a fixed food
contribution charged upon each ploughgate of land. Thus in the charter
by King Malcolm the Fourth, confirming the foundation of the abbey of
Scone, he grants to the canons from each ploughgate of the whole land of
the church of Scone in each year, at the Feast of All Saints, for their
_Coneveth_, one cow and two pigs, and four _Camni_ of meal, and ten
threaves of oats, and ten hens and two hundred eggs, and ten bundles of
candles, and four pounds of soap, and twenty half meales of cheese.[291]
In the reign of Alexander the Third this word seems to have assumed the
form of _Waytinga_, and appears in the Chamberlain Rolls of his reign as
a burden upon the Thanages. Thus the Chamberlain renders an account of
the _Waytingas_ of Forfar and Glammis, of the _Waytinga_ of one night of
Fettercairn, of the _Waytingas_ of four nights in the year of Kinross,
and ‘of the rent of cows of two years,’ that is to say, of the
_Waytingas_ of two nights in the year of Forfar, forty-eight cows, and
of the _Waytinga_ of (one) and a half nights of the Thanage of Glammis,
twenty-seven cows.[292]
Another name for this exaction was _Cuidoidhche_, or a night’s portion,
corrupted into _Cuddiche_ or _Cuddicke_. It appears under this name
mainly in the Highlands and Islands, and was continued as a burden on
the lands to a late period. In the rentals of South and North Kintyre
for 1505 we find, besides _firma_ or rent, each township charged with a
certain amount of meal, cheese, oats, and a mert or cow, _pro le
Cuddecht_. A description of the Western Isles written between 1577 and
1595, has preserved a record of these payments. Lewis, a forty pound
land, pays yearly 18 score chalders of victuall, 58 score of ky, 32
score of wedderis, and a great quantity of fishe, poultry, and white
plaiding by their _Cuidichies_—that is, feasting their master when he
pleases to come in the country, each one their night or two nights
about, according to their land or labour. In Uist each merk land paid 20
bolls victual, besides other customs which are paid at the landlord’s
coming to the Isle to his _Cudicht_; and in Mull each merk land paid
yearly 5 bolls bear, 8 bolls meal, 20 stones of cheese, 4 stones of
butter, 4 marts, 8 wedders, 2 merks of silver, and 2 dozen of poultrie
by _Cuddiche_, whenever their master comes to them. Under the name of
_Conyow_ or Coigny it appears in Iona, when, in a contract between the
bishop of the Isles and Lauchlan M‘Lean of Dowart, in 1580, the latter
becomes bound that he ‘sall suffer na maner of persoun or personis to
oppress the saidis landis of Ycolmekill (Iona) and Rosse, or tenantis
thaireof or trouble or molest thame in ony sort with ather stenting,
_Conyow_, gerig service or ony maner of exactioun.’[293] In Atholl we
find the vassals of Strathtay and their tenants ordered as late as in
1719 to pay their _Cudeichs_ according to ancient use and wont. These
included two pecks of corn, one threave of straw, and six shillings
Scots for maintenance of the superior’s horses and servants who wait on
them, out of each twenty shilling land; and in 1720 it is ordered that
the accustomed corn and straw and other casualties paid yearly as
_Cuddeichs_ out of each merk land be taken up, excepting always the land
laboured by the vassals for their own use.
A similar burden under different names emerges in Galloway, when in a
charter by David II. to Sir John Heris, knight of the barony of
Terreglis, in Dumfriesshire, in which it is declared ‘free of _Sorryn_
and _Fachalos_ unless officers come through it with a robber or with the
head of a robber; and if they, the king’s officers, can pass beyond the
barony before sunsetting, they shall have nothing for their expenses,
and if they cannot pass beyond the barony before sunsetting they shall
have hospitality for that night (_hospicium ad hospitandum_),’ etc.
_Sorren_ was a tax imposed in Ireland upon the possession of land for
the clothing, feeding, and supporting the galloglasses and kernes. It
was originally a night’s meal upon land passed through, and _Fachalos_
was probably the Irish _Fechtfele_, which is explained as ‘the first
night’s entertainment we receive at each other’s house.’[294]
[Sidenote: Expedition and hosting.]
The _Feacht_ and _Sluaged_ (_expeditio et exercitus_) consisted of a
general obligation, originally upon the members of the tribe, and
afterwards upon the possessors and occupiers of what had been tribe
territory, to follow their superiors and chiefs as well as the _Ardri_
or sovereign in his expeditions and wars. They are usually termed
expedition and hosting, and in Scotland the burden was apportioned upon
the davach of land. It is probably this burden that is referred to in
the Book of Deer, where we are told that the ‘_Mormaer_ and _Toisech_
immolated all the offerings to God and to devotion, and to Saint
Columcille and to Peter the Apostle, free from all the burdens, for a
portion of four davachs of what would come on the chief tribe residences
generally and on the chief churches.’ These obligations seem to have
constituted what is called in charters Scottish service (_servitium
Scoticanum_), and were of two kinds, internal and external, the one
representing the _Feacht_ or expedition, and the other the _Sluaged_ or
hosting. We find them distinguished in a charter by Waldevus de
Stratheihan to the church of St. Andrews of the lands of Blaregeroge,
which are granted ‘free from all exaction and service, internal and
external’ (_sine omne exactione et servitio intrinseco et
forinseco_);[295] and their connection with the Davach appears very
clearly from three Charters, one by Alexander II. to the abbey of Scone
of the lands of Magna et Parva Blar, which contains in the reddendo the
clause, ‘rendering the external service only which pertains to five
davachs of land, that pertaining to the sixth davach being
remitted.’[296] In another by the Earl of Stratherne to Willelmus de
Moravia, the lands are granted free of ‘every service except the
external Scottish service of our lord the king;’[297] and in a third
charter by Alexander the Second to the abbey of Arbroath of the lands of
Tarvays, consisting of four davachs and a half davach and quarter
davach, they are granted ‘rendering the external service in the army
which pertains to the said lands.’[298] We have seen that the
_Feachtmara_ or sea expedition of each tribe in ancient Dalriada was
attached to each twenty houses, corresponding to the twenty penny lands
which formed the davach in the west, showing very clearly that even at
this early period the Davach was the measure of land by which this
burden was regulated.
Such, then, were the burdens connected with the ancient tribal
organisation as depicted in the Irish and Welsh Laws which we find still
attached to the thanages, as well as to all the crown and church lands
not held on a feudal tenure. They consisted of, first, a share of the
produce of the land and the stock, of the personal services of certain
of the tenants, and of various fines, which were all included in the
general term of _Cain_; secondly, of rights of entertainment and support
for a certain number of nights in the year, under the name of
_Coinmhedha_ or _Coneveth_, _Cuidoidhche_ or _Cuddechie_, _Waytinga_,
_Sorren_, and _Fachalos_, and assessed on homesteads or penny lands in
the west, twenty of which made a davach; and on Carucates or ploughlands
in the east, four of which constituted the davach; thirdly, of the
_Feacht_ or expedition,—the burden of joining in expeditions within the
kingdom or territory; and fourthly, of the _Sluaged_ or Scottish service
of hosting,—that is, the burden of attending the king’s army or host
when assembled for the defence of the kingdom or for hostile invasion;
and of all these burdens the various grades connected with the land had
their _Cuid_ or share in definite proportions.
[Sidenote: Assimilation to feudal forms.]
These old Celtic tenures, however, became gradually more and more
assimilated to feudal forms as the kingdom with its mixed population
assumed more the aspect of a feudal monarchy, and its kings adapted the
customs of their subjects of different race to the model of those of the
feudal law. In this progress of adaptation we can trace two distinct
stages,—one when the crown lands came to be considered as held upon a
distinct tenure termed in England fee-farm, in Scotland feu-farm, and in
Latin charters _feodifirma_; and again, when the War of Independence
which followed on the death of the last of the kings of the race of
Malcolm Ceannmor and the contest between the houses of Bruce and Baliol
led to numerous confiscations of the land held by their partisans on
both sides, and to the general conversion of the crown grants into
feudal tenures for military service.
[Sidenote: Tenure in feu-farm.]
The tenure of crown lands in _feodifirma_, or feu-farm, appears in
England as early as the reign of King John, and must have then been
already well established, as one of the stipulations in the articles of
the Barons which led to the great charter of liberties or Magna Charta,
and repeated in the latter, is, that if any one holds of the king _per
feodifirmam_, or on _sokage_ or burgage tenure, and of another for
military service, the king is not to have the custody of the heir or of
his land who holds of another in fee by reason of his fee-farm, sokage,
or burgage holding of the king, nor shall he have the custody of the
latter unless the fee-farm owes military service;[299] and in Scotland
it was evidently recognised as a tenure holding of the Crown in the
reigns of William the Lion and of Alexander the Second. The tenure in
feu-farm or _feodifirma_ was in fact an intermediate tenure between
those who had merely the usufruct of land the right of property in which
still remained with the granter, and those who held land as his vassal
by a formal feudal grant for military service. Of the two words of which
the name is composed, _Firma_—derived from the Saxon _feorm_—was the
share of the produce of the land paid by a tenant to his landlord by way
of rent; and to hold land _ad firmam_ or _in firma_ was equivalent to
the modern leasehold tenure: it was constituted by a lease and completed
by possession, and the tenant was called _firmarius_; but _feodum_ is
the feudal fief granted by charter and completed by seisin or
infeftment. The tenure _in feodifirma_, therefore, was a feudal grant of
land, not for military service, but for a _firma_ or permanent rent, and
was equally constituted by charter and seisin. Such lands were held _ad
feodifirmam_, the annual payment was the _feodifirma_, and the holder
was called _feodifirmarius_. These grants were supposed to resemble the
Roman _Emphyteusis_, and the form still exists in Scotland in our modern
feu-charter, in which the same expressions are used. In these the land
is conveyed ‘in feu-farm, to be held in feu-farm fee and heritage for
ever,’ for payment of an annual ‘feu-duty,’ and the granter is called
the ‘feuar.’ It is, however, essentially a feudal holding, and differs
from a mere tenancy by lease in this—that in the former the _dominium
utile_ of the land is conveyed by charter to the vassal, while in the
latter the usufruct of the land is solely given, and the property of the
soil remains with the granter.[300]
[Sidenote: Ranks of society on Crown lands.]
When the thanage came to be considered as crown land it assumed an
appearance, with its thane holding it under the Crown and paying a share
of the produce as _Cain_, which was so analogous to that of the feu-farm
holding, that when feudal forms became more generally adopted it almost
unavoidably passed over into the latter; and it is at this stage of the
history of the thanage, when it was universally recognised as a feu-farm
holding, that the very important description of the tenure of crown
lands given us by Fordun in his Chronicle, to which we have already
adverted, more directly applies. We must now examine this description
more in detail.
Fordun divides the possessors and occupiers of the crown lands into
three classes, beginning his description with the lowest class, and
proceeding through the different ranks till he reaches the Thane; but it
will be more convenient for our purpose to invert the order in which he
describes them. He introduces his description by stating that the kings
were accustomed of old to give to their soldiers more or less of their
lands in feu-farm a thanage or portion of some province, of which,
however, he gave to each as it pleased him. Then follow the three
classes. The highest he terms _principes_, _thani_, and _milites_. To
these, who were few in number, he gave the land in perpetuity, but under
the burden of a certain annual payment to the king. The word _principes_
here, probably, means the earls of those ancient earldoms who
represented the old _Mormaers_, and whose demesne was held to have been
originally part of the crown land.[301] The _thani_ represented the
older _Toschachs_, and here we find the _Toschachs_ or thanes holding
the demesne of the thanage of the king in feu-farm, and paying an annual
feu-duty, first in kind, and retaining its original name of _Cain_, but
afterwards commuted to a money payment. Accordingly, in the laws of
William the Lion and of Alexander the Second we find them in the
position of crown vassals holding of the king _in capite_. Thus in an
assize held at Perth by King William the Lion there were present the
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, thanes, and whole community or estates
of the kingdom. Again, a law passed in A.D. 1220, regarding persons
absenting themselves from the king’s army, mentions those belonging to
the lands of bishops, abbots, barons, knights, and thanes who hold of
the king.[302] By _milites_, Fordun here means those who held a portion
of the thanage termed a tenement or tenandry, either direct from the
king, or, as was more usual, under the thane or lord as a sub-vassal, as
distinguished from the demesne.[303] These formed the class termed
freeholders or _libere tenentes_, and were bound to yield certain
services as suit and service in the court of the overlord and Scottish
service to the king. This class is frequently alluded to in the laws
both of William the Lion and of Alexander the Second. Thus in a statute
of King William the Lion in 1180, regarding the holding of barony
courts, it is provided that neither bishops nor abbots, nor earls nor
barons, nor any freeholders (_libere tenentes_) shall hold courts unless
the king’s sheriff is summoned, etc. Again, in a statute regarding
justice and sheriff moots, we have barons, knights (_milites_), and
freeholders (_libere tenentes_) classed together; and a statute
regarding the mode of citation refers to persons cited to attend the
moots of the justiciary shiref, baron, vavasour (that is, of one holding
of a baron), or of any freeholder (_libere tenentis_) that has a court.
Then a declaration regarding the freedom of the Church is made by King
William at Scone, with the common consent and deliberation of the
prelates, earls, barons, and freeholders (_libere tenentium_); and
finally there is a statute by the same king that the earls, barons, and
freeholders (_libere tenentes_) of the realm shall keep peace and
justice among their serfs, and that they shall live as lords from their
lands, rents, and dues, and not as husbandmen or sheep-farmers, wasting
their property and the country with a multitude of sheep and beasts,
thereby troubling God’s people with penury, poverty, and destruction;
this curious statute showing not only the position of the _libere
tenentes_ as proprietors, but that there was a tendency even at this
early period to withdraw land from culture and convert it into pasture
land.[304] Then in the Statutes of Alexander the Second there is one _de
modo duelli secundum conditionem personarum_, in which reference is made
to the _miles_ or knight, or son of a knight, or any _libere tenens_ or
freeholder in _feodo militari_ or knight’s fee. Again, in another law,
the king statutes that if any _miles_ or knight shall be indicted by
inquest, he shall pass through an assize of good and leil knights, or of
freeholders of heritage (_libere tenentium hereditarie_);[305] and their
position is clearly indicated by a provision in the Quoniam
attachiamenta, that any freeholder (_libere tenens_) whose tenement is
by his infeftment free from all service, shall fall to a lady by reason
of her terce, and unwittingly did service to her, shall not be liable in
similar service to his superior.[306] This view of the position of the
_libere tenentes_ as freeholders holding land under the thane or baron
as sub-vassals of the Crown, is corroborated by a few charters which may
be noticed. Thus Robertus de Keth, lord of the same and of the barony of
Troup and Marischall of Scotland, grants certain lands within the barony
of Troup to his son John de Keth, with the bondmen, bondages,
native-men, and their followers, but reserving to himself the
superiority and service of the freeholders (_libere tenentium_) of the
lands of Achorthi, Curvi, and Hayninghill, lying within the barony of
Troup. Again, Morgund, son of Albe, grants to his son Michael one davach
of his land of Carncors in Buchan, to be held of himself in fee and
heritage for ever, as freely as any freeman (_liber homo_) can grant
land; and Alexander Cumyn, Earl of Buchan, grants to Fergus, son of John
de Fothes, the tenement of Fothes, with its bondmen, bondages,
native-men, and their followers, to be held of himself and his heirs in
fee and heritage for ever, as freely as any freeman (_liber homo_) can
hold (_tenet_) any tenement of any earl or baron within the kingdom,
rendering such form in service to the king as pertains to their lands,
and a half-pound of wax to us and our heirs in lieu of all secular
service or demand which we can exact in future.[307]. This class appears
to be meant by the _Ogethearn_ of the old laws, who ranked next after
the thane.[308]
The second of Fordun’s groups consists of those whom he terms _liberi et
generosi_, who held portions of land either for ten or for twenty years
or during life, with remainder to one or two heirs. These were the
tenants in the modern sense of the term. The former were the _liberi
firmarii_ of the statutes, or free farmers, and the latter the kindlie
tenants or tacksmen, who were usually near relations of the lord of the
land, and when they had a liferent possession of land, occupied an
intermediate position between the _libere tenentes_ or freeholders and
the _firmarii_ or farmers, and may in fact be classed with either.[309]
We find in this group a resemblance to the _Ceile_ or tenants of the
Irish Laws in two respects. First, in the steelbow tenancy, by which
many of these tenants held their land, and were sometimes called
steelbow-men. By this tenure the landlord provided the stock and
implements called steelbow goods, which were transferred to the tenant
on valuation; and he was bound on the termination of his lease to return
stock and implements to the same value, while the rent paid for the land
was higher in proportion to the value of the steelbow goods. Secondly,
the smallest possession held by a free farmer appears to have been two
bovates or oxgangs of land, or the fourth of a ploughgate, called in
some parts of the country a husband-land; and we find that in the north
of Scotland the name of _Rath_ was given to this portion of land, a name
which in the Irish Laws signified the homestead, which formed the lowest
single tenancy. Thus William, son of Bernard, grants to the monks of
Arbroath ‘two bovates of land, which are called _Rath_ (_que vocantur
Rathe_), of the territory of Katerlyn (in Kincardineshire), with the
right to pasture twenty beasts and four horses on the common pasture of
Katerlyn; and the same person grants to the monks two other bovates of
land in the territory of Katerlyn, consisting of seven acres of land
adjoining their land which is called _Rathe_, on the north, and nineteen
acres of land adjoining these seven acres on the seaside towards the
east, under that culture which is termed _Treiglas_, thus making up the
twenty-six acres of which a husbandland consisted.’[310] The word _Rath_
enters largely into the topography of Scotland, under the forms of
_Rait_, as in Logierait; _Ra_, as in Ramorny; _Rothy_, as in Rothiemay
and Rothiemurchus, anciently _Rathmorchus_.
The last of Fordun’s groups consists of those termed _Agricolœ_ or
husbandmen, holding land from year to year for rent (_ad firmam_). They
are distinguished from the _liberi_ or freemen, and belonged to the
class of holders of servile tenements termed in the laws _Rustici_. This
class of servile tenants seems to form the object of the first laws made
by Alexander the Second on his accession in A.D. 1214. They are issued
at Scone, with the common council of his earls, for the profit of the
country, and provide that the ‘_Rustici_ in those places and townships
in which they were the previous year shall exercise their agriculture
and not neglect their own profit, but shall begin to plough and sow
their lands with all diligence fifteen days before the Feast of the
Purification (second of February); and that those _Agrestes_ who have
more than four cows shall take land from their lord and plough and sow
it, to provide sustenance for them and theirs; and those who have less
than five cows may not use them in ploughing, but shall labour the land
with hands and feet, trenching and sowing as much as is necessary for
the sustenance of them and theirs. Those that have oxen shall sell them
to those that have land to plough and sow. Earls not allowing those who
have such lands on their earldoms to do so shall forfeit eight cows to
the king; and if any one holding of the king shall neglect to do so, he
shall forfeit eight cows to the king. If he hold of an earl, he shall
give the earl eight cows. If he be a serf, his lord shall take from him
one cow and one sheep, and thenceforth shall force him who will not do
it of free will; and the king adds the following warning to them to take
heed that that does not happen to them which is taught in parables. He
who will not plough in winter owing to severe cold shall beg in summer,
and it shall not be given him, but rather according to the judgment of
the apostle—Let them labour with their hands, working what is good, that
they may have to give to those who are in necessity.’[311]
The thanage then consisted, like all baronies, of two parts, demesne and
that part given off as freeholds (_libera tenementa_) or tenandries. The
demesne was held by the Thane of the king in feu-farm, and cultivated by
the servile class, the bondmen and native-men, and the tenandries were
either held of him in fee and heritage by the sub-vassals called
freeholders or _libere tenentes_, or occupied by the kindlie tenants and
free farmers.
Such was their position prior to the death of Alexander the Third, the
last king of the old dynasty, and a similar description would apply to
those thanages which did not form part of the crown lands, but were held
under earls of the ancient earldoms north of the Forth as part of their
demesne,[312] or of the Church.
-----
Footnote 1:
De toto regno, de insula Manniæ et de omnibus aliis insulis ad dictum
regnum Scotiæ pertinentibus necnon et de Tyndallia et de Penereth cum
aliis omnibus juribus et libertatibus ad dictum dominum Regem Scotiæ
spectantibus.—Rym. _Fœd._ ii. p. 266.
Footnote 2:
For this sketch of the attempts of the Scottish kings to obtain
possession of these northern provinces, Hailes’s _Annals_ and Vol. I.
of this work may be consulted.
Footnote 3:
Rymer’s _Fœdera_; Palgrave, _Records_, vol. i. pp. ii. 1.
Footnote 4:
Dominus autem rex, circa festum S. Michaelis (A.D. 1211) rediens inde
cum manu valida, Malcolmum comitem de Fyfe Moraviæ custodem
dereliquit.... Erat enim tunc temporis ipse (Willelmus Cumyn Comes de
Buchan) Custos Moraviæ.—_Scotichron._ B. viii. c. lxxvi.
Footnote 5:
It is thus described by Dio in the reign of the Emperor Severus.
Footnote 6:
Adamnan, _Vit. Columbæ_.
Footnote 7:
Provinciis septentrionalium Pictorum, hoc est, eis quæ arduis atque
horrentibus montium jugis ab australibus eorum sunt regionibus
sequestratæ. Namque ipsi australes Picti, qui intra eosdem montes
habent sedes.—_Hist. Ec._ lib. iii. cap. iv.
Footnote 8:
De situ Albaniæ quæ in se figuram hominis habet.—_Chron. Picts and
Scots_, p. 135.
Footnote 9:
Brevis Descriptio regni Scotiæ.—_Ib_. 214.
Footnote 10:
Fordun’s _Chronicle of Scotland_, B. ii. cc. vii. and viii. vol. ii.
pp. 36-7.
Footnote 11:
Coadunatus autem erat iste nefandus exercitus de Normannis, Germanis,
Anglis, de Northymbranis et Cumbris, de Teswetadala, de Lodonea, de
Pictis, qui vulgo Galleweienses dicuntur, et Scottis.—Ric. Hagustald.
_ad an_. 1138.
Footnote 12:
Fordun’s _Chron._ vol. i. App. I.
Footnote 13:
Qui duce Reuda de Hibernia progressi vel amicitia vel ferro sibimet
inter eos sedes quas hactenus habent, vindicarent.—_Bede_, i. c. 1.
Footnote 14:
Dicto namque Kentegerno pluribusque successoribus suis pie religionis
perseverantia ad Deum transmigratis, diverse seditiones circumquaque
insurgentes, non solum Ecclesiam et ejus possessiones destruxerunt,
verum etiam totam regionem vastantes, ejus habitatores exilio
tradiderunt. Sic ergo omnibus bonis exterminatis, magnis temporum
intervallis transactis, diverse tribus diversarum nationem ex diversis
partibus affluentes, desertam regionem prefatam habitaverunt; sed
dispari genere et dissimili lingua et vario more viventes, haud facile
[inter] sese consentientes, gentilitatem potius quam fidei cultum
tenuere. Quos infelices dampnate habitationis habitatores, more
pecudum irrationabiliter degentes, dignatus est Dominus, Qui neminem
vult perire, propitiatione Sua visitare; tempore enim Henrici Regis
Anglie, Alexandro Scotorum rege in Scotia regnante, misit eis Deus
David, predicti Regis Scotie germanum, in principem et ducem; qui
eorum impudica et scelerosa contagia corrigeret, et animi nobilitate
et inflexibili severitate contumeliosam eorum contumatiam
refrenaret.—Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils_, vol. ii. part i. p. 17.
Footnote 15:
This chronicle was printed from the Book of Aberpergwm in the
_Myvyrian Archæology_, vol. ii., and reprinted, with a translation, in
the _Archæologia Cambrensis_, vol. ix., Third Series, but its
authority is very doubtful.
Footnote 16:
When Kentigern was preaching to the pagan people at Hoddam, in
Dumfriesshire, the chief point of his sermon was to show them that
their god Woden had been a mere man.—See Paper on Early Frisian
Settlements, _Proceedings Ant. Scot._, vol. iv. p. 169.
Footnote 17:
Fourth Report of Hist. MSS. Com., App. p. 493.
Footnote 18:
_Chart. Scon_, p. 24.
Footnote 19:
Fordun, _Chron._ (Annals, IV.) ed. 1872, vol. ii. p. 251.
Footnote 20:
The names Dubhgall and Finngall must not be confounded, as is usually
done, with the Christian names Dubhgal and Fingal, which belong to a
large class of names ending with the syllable _gal_, signifying
_valour_.
Footnote 21:
There is no foundation for the usual statement that the Sudreys meant
merely the islands south of the Point of Ardnamurchan, which is
contradicted by the language of the Sagas.
Footnote 22:
This is Munch’s opinion. See his _Chronicle of Man_, preface, p.
xviii.
Footnote 23:
_Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. i. p. 634.
Footnote 24:
Dasent, _Saga of Burnt Njal_, vol. ii. pp. 12, 39, 40.
Footnote 25:
Goffraig Meranach ri Gall mortuus est.—_An. Ult._ _ad an_. 1095.
Atbath don mhortladh chetna (of the same pestilence died) Gofraidh
Meranach tighearna Gall Athacliath agus na ninnsidh.—_Annals of the
Four Masters_, vol. ii. p. 950.
Footnote 26:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 170.
Footnote 27:
See translation of _Book of Clanranald_ in the Appendix, No. I.
Footnote 28:
_Ib_.
Footnote 29:
_Chron. of Man_, _ad an_. 1140.
Footnote 30:
_Ib_.
Footnote 31:
_Ib_.
Footnote 32:
The author is indebted to W. M. Hennessey, Esq., of the Public Record
Office, Dublin, for a copy of this poem, collated with one in his own
possession. It is printed in the Appendix, No. II., along with a
translation by Mr. Hennessey.
Footnote 33:
_Ise in Manannan sin robai i n-arainn ocus as friaside adberar Emain
Ablach_. It was this Manannan that resided in Arann, and this is the
place which is called Eamania of the apple-trees.—_Yellow Book of
Lecain, Atlantis_, vol. iv. p. 228.
Footnote 34:
Principes Insularum.—_Chron. Manniæ._
Footnote 35:
_Chron. Manniæ_, _ad an_.
Footnote 36:
See _Act. Parl._, vol. i. p. 424.
Footnote 37:
Puis est treitez et acordez de mettre quatre poire des Justices en la
terre Descoce et pur ce que les choses soient mesnees de meillur array
et plus a honur et au profite de nostre seignur le Roy et al aisement
du poeple est assentu que en LOENEYS soient deux Justices, cest
asavoir monsieur Johan del Isle et monsieur Adam de Gurdon. En
GA[LO]WAY monsieur Roger de Kirkpatrick et monsieur Wautier de
Burghdone. Et pur LES TERRES DELA LA MER DESCOCE, cest asavoir ENTRE
LA RIVERE DE FORTH ET LES MONTZ monsieur Robert de KETH et monsieur
William Inge. Et pur LES TERRES DELA LES MONTZ Monsieur Reynaud le
Chien et Monsieur Johan de Vaux du Counte de Northumber.—_Act. Parl.
Scot._, vol. i. p. 120.
Footnote 38:
Fordun’s _Chron._, vol. ii. p. 38.
Footnote 39:
Bede tells us (B. i. c. 12) that the Picts and Scots were termed
transmarine nations, not because they came from beyond Britain, but
because they belonged to that remote part of Britain beyond the two
firths. The word Transmarine Scotland is adopted as a convenient term
for Scotland beyond the Firths of Forth and Clyde.
Footnote 40:
Defunctus est Palladius in Campo Girgin, in loco qui dicitur
Forddun.—Colgan, _Tr. Th._ p. 13.
Footnote 41:
_Book of Rights_, pp. 17 and 49.
Footnote 42:
When the Pictish Chronicle tells us that the Norwegians were cut off
in _Sraith-herne_ or Stratherne, the Irish Annals narrate the same
event as a slaughter by the men of Fortren.—_Chron. Picts and Scots_,
pp. 9. and 362.
Footnote 43:
Across the Stockfurde into Ros.—_Wyntoun._
Footnote 44:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 136.
Footnote 45:
693 _Bruidhe mac Bile Rex Fortrend moritur_.
739 _Tolarcan mac Drostan rex Athfhotla a bathadh la h’Angus_ (drowned
by Angus).—_Tigh. Ib._ pp. 75, 76.
Footnote 46:
1020 Findlaec mac Ruaidri Mormaer Moreb.—_Tigh._ Findlaec mac Ruadri
Ri Alban.—_An. Ult._
Footnote 47:
Et si ille qui calumpniatus est de catallo furato vel rapto vocat
warentum suum aliquem hominem manentem inter Spey et Forth vel inter
Drumalban et Forth habeat ab illo die quo calumpniatus fuerit xv. dies
ad producendum warentum suum qui infra dictas divisas maneat ad locum
sicut Rex David constituit in comitatu ubi calumpnia tus fuerit. Et si
quis ultra illas divisas velut in Moravia vel in Ros vel in Katenes
vel in Ergadia vel in Kentyre vocaverit warentos habeat omnes warentos
illos quos habere debuit ab ultimo die quindecem dierum predictorum in
unam mensem ad locum ubi ipse qui calumpniatus est de catallo furato
vel rapto cum catallo adductus erit. Et si calumpniatus venerit pro
warento suo qui maneat vel in Moravia vel in Ros vel in Katenes vel in
_Ergadia que pertinet ad Moraviam_ nec illum habere poterit tunc
veniat ad vicecomitem de Invirnisse, etc....
Item si calumpniatus vocaverit warentum aliquem in _Ergadia que
pertinet ad Scotiam_ tunc veniat ad Comitem Atholie vel ad Abbatem de
Clendrochard, etc.—_Act. Parl._ vol. i. p. 372.
Dominus Rex pro pace et stabilitate regni sui observanda statuit et
ordinavit quod de terris subscriptis fient videlicet De _terra Comitis
de Ros in Nort Argail_.—_Ib_. _ad an_. 1292, vol. i. p. 447.
Footnote 48:
The term Scotti Picti is here evidently a rendering of the name of
_Gwyddyl Ffichti_, by which the Picts were known to the Welsh, and the
allusion to their return from Ireland refers to the tradition of their
settlement as given by Bede.
Footnote 49:
Reeves’s _Adamnan_, p. 397.
Footnote 50:
_Orkneyinga Saga_, p. 181.
Footnote 51:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 363.
Footnote 52:
_Ib._ p. 9.
Footnote 53:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 77.
Footnote 54:
See vol. i. p. 387, note 5. _War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_, p.
153.
Footnote 55:
Olaf Tryggvesson’s Saga. _Collect. de reb. Alb._, p. 333.
Footnote 56:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, 77, 78, and 367.
Footnote 57:
_Saxon Chron._ _ad an_. 1031. See also vol. i. p. 397, note 22.
Footnote 58:
Anderson’s _Orkneyinga Saga_, p. 28, note. The author has no doubt
that Munch’s conjecture is correct. The expression ‘where Scotland and
England meet’ must not be too strictly construed, but it evidently
places the locality on the southern frontier of Scotland. That
Gallgaedhel is geographically Galloway appears from this, that the
deaths of Roland and Allan, Lords of Galloway, which took place in
1199 and 1234, are recorded in the Irish Annals under the title of _Ri
Gallgaedhel_.
Footnote 59:
1040 Donnchad rex Scotiæ in autumno occiditur a duce suo Macbethad mac
Finnlaech, cui succesit in regnum.—(Marianus Scotus.) _Chron. Picts
and Scots_, p. 65.
Footnote 60:
_Collect. de reb. Alb._, pp. 345, 346.
Footnote 61:
_Col. de Reb. Alb._, p. 346.
Footnote 62:
Bower says of Alexander I.—‘Quod patruus suus comes de Gowry dedit
sibi ad donum, ut moris est in baptismo, terras de Lyff et Invergowry’
(_Scotichron._ B. v. chap. xxxvi.), which shows that during the life
of Malcolm III. one of his brothers possessed Gowry. Then we find that
Madach, who ruled over Atholl as earl in the reign of Alexander I. and
David I., was the son of Melmare, brother of Malcolm III., and his son
Edelradus is designated in a charter of Admore in Kinross-shire ‘Abbas
de Dunkelden et insuper comes de Fife’ (_Chart. St. Andrews_, p. 115),
thus uniting the possession of the abbacy of Dunkeld, the patrimony of
this royal family, with the earldom of Fife.
Footnote 63:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, pp. 370, 372.
Footnote 64:
_Dobharcu_, of which Dobharcon is the genitive form, signifies
literally water-dog, and is the name usually given to an otter.
Footnote 65:
The words _agus ise Mormaer agus ise Toisech_. This has been
translated as if it meant that Mondac was both Mormaer and Toisech,
while Comgall is left without a designation, but the above is the
obvious meaning.
Footnote 66:
In the above notice from the Book of Deer the reader is referred to
the edition of it printed for the Spalding Club under the able care of
the late Dr. John Stuart. The facts they disclose are given here
merely, and the explanation must be reserved to a subsequent chapter.
Footnote 67:
_Chart. Scon_, p. 2.
Footnote 68:
Ailred De bello apud Standardum, printed in appendix to Fordun,
_Chron._, vol. i. p. 443.
Footnote 69:
_Orkneyinga Saga_, p. 86.
Footnote 70:
Compare the subscriptions to the Scone charter, ‘Ego Alexander Dei
Gratia Rex Scotorum propria manu mea hec confirmo ... ego Sibilla Dei
Gratia Regina Scottorum propria manu hec confirmo, ego Gregorius
episcopus, etc., confirmo, ego Cormacus episcopus, etc., confirmo, ego
Beth comes similiter, ego Gospatricius Dolfini assensum prebeo, ego
Mallus comes assensum prebeo, ego Madach comes assensum prebeo, ego
Rothri comes assensum prebeo, ego Gartnach comes assensum prebeo, ego
Dufagan comes assensum prebeo (_Chart. Scon_, p. 2), with the
following Saxon charters:—‘Ego Æthelbalth (Mercensium Rex) hanc
donationem meam subscripsi. Ego Uuor Episcopus consensi et subscripsi.
Piot abbas. Uuilfirth comes. Sigibed comes. Oba comes. Beorcol comes.
Heardberht frater Regis Eadberht comes, etc. Or another in 823—‘Ego
Eagbertus Rex Anglorum hanc donationem meam, etc., confirmavi et
subscripsi. Ego Ætheluulf Rex consensi et subscripsi. Ego Uulfred
Archiepiscopus consensi et subscripsi. Ego Wigthegn Episcopus consensi
et subscripsi. Ego Ealhstan Episcopus consensi et subscripsi. Ego
Bearnmod Episcopus consensi et subscripsi. Ego Wulfhard Dux consensi
et subscripsi. Ego Monuede Dux consensi et subscripsi. Ego Osmod Dux
consensi et subscripsi. Ego Dudda Dux consensi et subscripsi,
etc.—Palgrave, _Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth_, vol.
ii. pp. ccxix. ccxx.
Footnote 71:
_Chart. of Dunfermlin_, p. 4.
Footnote 72:
_Ib_. p. 16.
Footnote 73:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, pp. 116, 117.
Footnote 74:
Mr. Robertson, in his valuable work of _Scotland under her Early
Kings_, considers that Beth in the Scone charter is written by a
clerical error for Heth, that he is the same person with the Ed and
Head of David’s charters, and was Earl of Moray, and father of that
Angus, Earl of Moray, defeated and slain in 1130 (vol. i. pp. 104,
190). This opinion is mainly grounded on the fact that Wimund, when he
claimed to be the son of Angus, called himself Malcolm MacHeth, but
Beth appears in the same form in a subsequent charter in the Scone
chartulary (p. 4), and an identification, which requires us to suppose
that the name has been miswritten in two charters, is not admissible.
Moreover, it is not likely that an Earl of Moray should witness the
foundation-charter of a monastery erected as a thank-offering for the
defeat of the men of Moray in that year. As the great province of Fif
consisted of the two old districts of Fyfe and Fothrithi, it is not
impossible that there may at first have been an Earl connected with
each, and that Beth, occupying here the leading place in which the
subsequent Earls of Fife are invariably found, may have been earl
along with Edelrad, and that the latter is the Ed who, along with
Constantin, witnesses the earliest charter of King David, as there is
a circumflex through the d of Ed, which implies that some letters
after it have been omitted. This would account for Constantin
appearing in the charter of Edelrad as if he were his contemporary. It
may be observed that the Admore which Edelrad grants was in Fothrif,
while Constantin appears in connection with Kirkcaldy in Fife, and
that the name of the Thane of Falkland being Macbeath, shows that the
name Beath was also connected with Fife. Head may certainly have been
the Earl of Moray who preceded Angus, and gave his name to the family
of MacHeth.
Footnote 75:
See charter by Alexander the Second to Earl Malcolm of Fife, son of
Duncan, Earl of Fife, of the comitatus de Fyfe. ‘Sicut Comes Duncanus
frater suus comitatem illum tenuit ... Sicut carta regis David de
predicto comitatu facta comiti Duncano patri ejus.’—_National MSS._
vol. i. p. 28.
Footnote 76:
Fordun, _Chron._ (Annals, III.) vol. ii. p. 251; and see note, p. 430.
Footnote 77:
‘Ingibiorg, the mother of the earls,’ married Melkolf, king of
Scotland, who was called Langhals. Their son was Dungad, king of
Scotland, the father of William, who was a good man. His son was
William the Noble, whom all the Scots wished to take for their
king.—_Collect. de Reb. Alb._ 40, p. 346.
Footnote 78:
Wyntoun, _Chron._ B. vii. c. vii.
Footnote 79:
Memorandum quod Comes de Holand processit de sorore domini Regis
Willelmi ut cognitum est per anticos regni Scotie quod totus comitatus
de Ros, collatus fuit in maritagio cum predicta sorore domini Regis
Willelmi et predictus comitatus elongatus fuit a predicto comite de
Holand sine aliqua ratione et sine merito suo vel antecessorum suorum
ut injuste sicut recognitum est.—Palgrave, _Documents and Records_, p.
20.
Footnote 80:
The principal act of Gilchrist’s life was the foundation of the Priory
of Monimusk, and Thomas, the Doorward, confirms the grant by his
grandfather and his mother. His son Alan declares, in 1257, that
Morgund and his son Duncan were illegitimate, and in 1291 the Earl of
Mar complains that when William the Lion restored the Earldom to
Morgund, ‘deficiebant tres centum librate terre.’—_Ant. Ab. and
Banff_, vol. iv. p. 151.
Footnote 81:
This deed has hitherto been known only by its being printed by Selden
in his _Titles of Honour_; but the document from which he printed was
found among his papers, and is now in the library at Lincoln’s Inn.
See Appendix No. IV. for an account of this charter.
Footnote 82:
Fordun, _Chron._ (Annals, XXX.) vol. ii. p. 276.
Footnote 83:
_Chart. of Paisley_, p. 167. The expressions used here imply that
David held the earldom only for a time. The first mention of another
earl of Lennox is in 1193, when Eth, son of the earl of Lennox,
witnesses a charter in the _Liber de Melrose_, vol. i. p. 22, and that
his name was Aluin appears from the _Chartulary of Glasgow_, vol. i.
p. 86, where we find, between 1208 and 1214, a charter by Alewinus
comes de Levenax filius et heres Alewini comitis de Levenax.
Footnote 84:
Fordun, _Chron._ (Annals, XXIX.), p. 276.
Footnote 85:
Willelmi Rishanger _Chronica et Annales_, Master of the Rolls Series,
p. 344. The words ‘de chef mes’ are erroneously translated by the
editor ‘of chief of the house,’ instead of ‘chief messuage.’
Footnote 86:
Rishanger, _Chronica_, pp. 355, 356, 357.
Footnote 87:
The decision is thus given in the arguments adduced by Baliol in
support of the position that the kingdom was not partible. Printed by
Palgrave (_Doc._, p. 40), unfortunately the document is very
imperfect, but it appears to place the old Celtic earldom in the same
category with the offices of seneschals, marischals, constables, and
foresters:—
‘Ausi la Countee de Asheles demora a Isabele la einzne ... puisne n y
aveit vivaunt Isabel l einzne soir e le isseue de li. E fet ...
lavandit Isabel en pleyn Parlament devaunt le Rey Alexaundre fiz ...
son counseil q ele ne deveit ceo par ... er por ceo qe Countee nest
pas partable ... qe plus ... es ce ... vynt.... Escoce Seneschaucie
Mareschaucie Conestablerie Foresterie. e ... einzne ... al isseue ...
einznesce autres offices e baillies semblable qe sount de la coroune.’
Footnote 88:
Pro dolor! Patricius de Athedle filius Thomæ de Galwedia et comitis de
Adthedle, juvenis egregius et quantum ad humanam oppinionem omni
curiali sapientia et facescia imbutus, apud Hadingtone in hospitio suo
de nocte postquam se sopori dedisset, per consilium quorundam
malignancium nequiter perimitur, cum duobus sociis suis.... Post cujus
tamen obitum, David de Hastinges accepit ejus comitatum provenientem
sibi ex parte uxoris sue, que erat matertera juvenis occisi.—_Chron.
Mel._
Footnote 89:
The history of these ancient earldoms is very inaccurately given by
the Peerage-writers, and none more so than that of the earldom of
Caithness. These errors will be found corrected in Appendix No. V.
Footnote 90:
Palgrave, _Documents_, pp. 14, 15.
Footnote 91:
Vol. i. p. 483.
Footnote 92:
Vol. i. p. 486.
Footnote 93:
See charter by David II., confirming in 1368 to Archibald Campbell,
son of Colin, the lands of Craignish, Melfort, and others, with all
the liberties thereof, as freely as Duncan Mac Duine, progenitor of
the said Archibald Campbell, enjoyed the same in the barony of Lochaw,
or other lands belonging to him.—_His. Com._, 4 Report, p. 40. The
first Campbell on record is Gillespie Campbell in 1266, and this
Duncan was his grandfather.
Footnote 94:
Rymer’s _Fœdera_, vol. i. p. 257.
Footnote 95:
Fordun, _Chron._, ed. 1874, vol. ii. p. 289, and note p. 436.
Footnote 96:
Quo tempore septem Comites Scotiae, viz. de Bowan, de Meneteth, de
Stradeherne, de Lewenes, de Ros, de Athel, de Mar, ac Johannes filius
Johannis Comyn de Badenau, collecto exercitu valido in valle Annandie,
feria secunda Paschæ Angliam ingressi, vastabant omnia cæde et
incendio, et non parcentes ætati vel sexui venientes Carleolum urbem,
ipsam obsidione cinxerunt.—Willelmi Rishanger _Chronica_, p. 156.
Footnote 97:
Willelmi Rishanger _Chronica_, pp. 159, 160.
Footnote 98:
Rymer’s _Fœdera_, ii. p. 471.
Footnote 99:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 291.
Footnote 100:
Fordun, _Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 177.
Footnote 101:
_Regiam Majestatem_, p. i.
Footnote 102:
This word _feodofirma_, called feu-farm in Scotland and fee-farm in
England, is usually understood as meaning what is inconsistently
called a hereditary lease, but it was not so at least in Scotland. It
was a grant of the _feodum_ or fee of the estate, and not merely of
the usufruct, burdened with an annual payment of a _firma_ or
_census_, instead of military service.—See Fordun, vol. ii. p. 414
note.
Footnote 103:
This subject will be more fully discussed in a subsequent chapter.
Footnote 104:
_Chart. Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 55.
Footnote 105:
Dominus Rex pro pace et stabilitate regni sui observandus statuit et
ordinavit quod de terris subscriptis fient [vicecomitatus] videlicet.
De terra comitis de Ros in Nort Argail, Terra de Glenc[elg] Terra
Regis de Skey et Lodoux, octo davaux de terra [Garmoran] Egge et Rumme
Guiste et Barrich cum minutis insulis et vocetur vicecomitatus de
Skey.
De terris Kinnebathyn Ardemuirich Bothelve, Terra Alexandri de
Argadia, Terra Johannis de Glenurwy, Terra Gilberti Mc[Nauchton] Terra
Malcolmi M‘Ivyr Terra Dugalli de Cragins Terra Johannis McGilcrist
Terra Magistri Radulphi de Dunde, Terra Gileskel M‘Lachl[an] Terra
Comitis de Meneteth de Knapedal, Terra Anegus filii Dovenaldi
Insularum et Terra Colini Cambel et vocetur vicecomitatus de [Lorn].
De terris de Kentyr cum omnibus tenentibus terras in eadem. Terra
Lochmani McKilcolim McErewer Terra Enegus McErewer, Terra de ...
Insula de Boot, Terra Domini Thomæ Cambel, et Terra Dunkani Duf et
vocetur vicecomitatus de Kentyr.—_Acta Parl._ vol. i. p. 447.
Footnote 106:
The account of these supposed colonies in all their subsequent
elaboration will be found in the _Annals of the Four Masters_, and in
Keating’s _History of Ireland_, which contains a very accurate
representation of the Irish legends in regard to them.
Footnote 107:
These names have a meaning connected with land, and probably personify
the different kinds of tenure by which the land was held. _Er_ means
noble; _Orba_, inheritance; _Fearann_, land in general; and _Feargna_,
chieftainship.
Footnote 108:
The word meant is _Lediaith_. In Welsh, identity of language was
implied by _Cyfiaith_, dialectic difference by _Lediaith_, and
difference of language by _Anghyviaith_.
Footnote 109:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, pp. 47, 48.
Footnote 110:
In referring to the Cymric legends it is necessary to be careful as to
the source from which they are derived. The literature of Wales has
been unfortunately tainted to a large extent by spurious documents
professing to be old, but in the main the creation of the eighteenth
century, when a school of Welsh antiquaries existed, desirous of
reproducing what they considered a sort of mystic Druidism supposed to
have been handed down from pagan times by a successor of Baedi, and
who were little scrupulous as to the means by which they promoted
their object. Among the documents emerging from this school were the
so-called Historical Triads, which the author rejects as spurious. A
valuable and interesting work, the _Mabinogion_, by Lady Charlotte
Guest, containing the ancient Welsh prose tales preserved in the Red
Book of Hergest, unfortunately includes one of these spurious pieces,
the Hanes Taliessin, among the genuine tales. The author announced in
his _Four Ancient Books of Wales_ that this tale, though included in
those said to be taken from the Red Book of Hergest, is not to be
found in that MS., and is certainly a manufacture of the last century;
while more spurious poems, attributed to Taliessin but not to be found
in the Book of Taliessin, have been introduced into it, though not
forming a part of it. He regrets to see that this spurious document is
still included in the new edition of the _Mabinogion_ among the tales
said to be taken from the Red Book of Hergest, as if the imposture had
never been detected. It shows how difficult it is to purge the early
historical literature of any country of such spurious matter when once
it has been accepted as genuine.
Footnote 111:
_Four Ancient Books of Wales_, vol. i. p. 276.
Footnote 112:
Gildas, _Hist._ c. 25.
Footnote 113:
Nennius, _Hist._ c. 42.
Footnote 114:
Nennius, c. 56.
Footnote 115:
This document is printed with a translation in the _The Four Ancient
Books of Wales_, vol. ii. p. 455.
Footnote 116:
See _Four Ancient Books of Wales_, vol. i. c. x., Cumbria, or the Men
of the North, for a fuller account of these traditionary origins.
Footnote 117:
The modern Welsh antiquaries in general regard the Picts as belonging
to the Cymric race and speaking a Welsh dialect, but in this they run
counter to their own early traditions, for both in their old poems and
in prose documents there is a consensus as to their being a foreign
race to the Cymry, and belonging to the people termed by them Gwyddyl.
In the poems they are usually termed Brithwyr and Peithwyr, but also
Gwyddyl Ffichti; thus the early Pictish inhabitants of Bernicia are
thus alluded to—
Five chiefs then will he
Of the Gwyddyl Ffichti,
Of a sinner’s disposition,
Of the race of the knife.
_Four Ancient Books of Wales_,
vol. i. p. 432.
And in one poem the epithet of _Anghyfiaeth_, that is, speaking a
language different from the Cymric, is clearly applied to them (_ib_.
p. 433 and note). Thus in the Triads of Arthur, which are genuine,
they are included in the three foreign races called ‘Three oppressions
came into this island, and did not go out of it.’ The second is ‘the
oppression of the Gwyddyl Ffichti, and they did not again go out of
it.’ The third was the oppression of the Saxons (_ib_., vol. ii. p.
465). In order to avoid the force of this, the term Gwyddyl Ffichti is
usually translated Irish Picts, and supposed to refer to those in
Ireland only; but the epithet Gwyddyl was certainly used in the larger
sense of the race wherever found, and it is clear from all the
passages that the same people are referred to who are known as the
Picts of Britain. If they had been termed Cymry Ffichti, would this
school of Welsh antiquarians have tolerated an assertion that they
were not of the Cymric race?
Footnote 118:
Angles and Galwydel,
Let them make their war.—
_Four Ancient Books of Wales_, vol. i. p. 284.
Footnote 119:
Nemedius, inter posteros ejus McCailin Moir agus MacLeoid.—MS. 1467.
See also _Ulster Archæological Journal_, vol. ix. p. 319.
Footnote 120:
They will be found in Lady Ferguson’s excellent little work, _The
Story of the Irish before the Conquest_, and in Mr. Standish O’Grady’s
interesting work just published, _The History of Ireland_, vol. i.
_Heroic Period_. The interest of this latter work is, in the author’s
opinion, greatly detracted from by his having unfortunately adopted a
practice, which cannot be too strongly deprecated, of spelling Irish
proper names phonetically. There is nothing gained by it, as the form
of the name has quite as barbarous an appearance as when the proper
orthography is retained, the identity of the persons meant is lost, it
is misleading as there is no uniform pronunciation of these names by
those who speak the vernacular Gaelic, and the travesty of the Irish
names is equally offensive to good taste and to sound judgment. In
other respects this little work has great merits.
Footnote 121:
_Chronicle of the Picts and Scots_, pp. 24, 45, 318, 322.
Footnote 122:
_Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. i. p. 49.
Footnote 123:
Genealach Corca Laidhe.—_Miscellany of the Celtic Society_, p. 10.
Footnote 124:
_Ranta on Athcliath cochele ittir Cond. c. Cathach agus Mogh Nuadhad_
cui nomen erat Eogan.—_Ad an._ 165.
Footnote 125:
Bede, _Ec. Hist._, lib. iii. cap. iii.
Footnote 126:
_Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. i. p. 113.
Footnote 127:
_Indarba Ullad a h-Erend a Manand la Cormac hui Cond. As de ba Cormac
Ulfada dia ro cuir Ul. a fadh_.—_Ad an._ 254.
Footnote 128:
Genealach Corca Laidhe.—_Misc. Celtic Soc._, pp. 4, 5.
Footnote 129:
_Ib_. p. 67.
Footnote 130:
_Ibid_. p. 5.
Footnote 131:
See _Annals of the Four Masters_, under dates, and Keating’s _History
of Ireland_. Tighernac under 322, 326, 332.
Footnote 132:
Cormac’s Glossary, edited for the Irish Arch. Society by Mr. Whitley
Stokes, p. 111.
Footnote 133:
_Annals of the Four Masters._
Footnote 134:
_Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachrach_, p. 19.
Footnote 135:
From the Book of Leinster. The substance is given in O’Curry’s
_Lectures on the MS. Materials_, p. 287.
Footnote 136:
Dean of Lismore’s Book, p. 157.
Footnote 137:
This poem is preserved in McFirbis’ _Book of Genealogies_, p. 410,
where the prose tales will also be found. The original of the poem is
printed in the Appendix No. VI.
Footnote 138:
McFirbis, in his Genealogical MS., says—‘This account I found among
the Books of Fardorough McFirbis, who was a sennachaidhe well
acquainted in Alban and much frequented it.’ He lived about 1560.
Footnote 139:
Fergus filius Eric ipse fuit primus qui de semine Chonare suscepit
regnum Alban.—_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 130.
Footnote 140:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 18.
Footnote 141:
_Stat. Acc._ (1791-99), vol. xiv. p. 602.
Footnote 142:
Cath a sreith in terra Circin inter Pictones invicem in quo cecidit
Bruidhi mac Mailchon.—_Tigh. Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 76.
Footnote 143:
_Chron. of the Picts and Scots_, pp. 320 and 526.
Footnote 144:
O’Curry, _MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_, p. 319. The story
of the children of Uisneach, from which the quotations are here made,
will be found in the _Transactions_ of the Gaelic Society of Dublin.
Footnote 145:
The old Gaelic names of the leading physical features of the Highlands
have been so perverted by the numerous guide-books to which the
attraction of the country to tourists has given rise, that the older
forms well known some thirty years ago are almost gone. The writers of
these books seem to have invented an orthography of their own, which
they suppose to represent Gaelic words, but are neither one thing nor
another. One of their most successful inventions is that of the
_Cuchullin_ hills in Skye.
Footnote 146:
A translation from the oldest copy of it will be found in the
introduction to the Dean of Lismore’s Book, p. lxxxvii.
Footnote 147:
_Ib_., p. lxxxviii. note.
Footnote 148:
_Chronicles of the Picts and Scots_, p. 319.
Footnote 149:
Cormac’s Glossary, edited by Mr. Whitley Stokes, p. 72.
Footnote 150:
The form of this name as we find it in St. Berchan’s prophecy is
identical with that of Erin or Ireland.—See _Chron. Picts and Scots_,
pp. 84, 88, and 98.
Footnote 151:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 165.
Footnote 152:
Fordun’s _Chronicle_, ed. 1874, vol. i. pp. 227, 430.
Footnote 153:
There is a charter by Malcolm the Fourth to the canons of Scone, ‘in
principale sede regni nostri fundata,’ in which he conveys to them the
titles ‘de quatuor maneriis meis de Gouerin scilicet de Scon, et de
Cubert et de Fergrund et de Stratherdel.’—_Chr. of Scone_, p. 6.
Footnote 154:
_Chron. Picts and Scots_, pp. 9 and 21.
Footnote 155:
_Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_, edited by Benjamin Thorpe,
1840.
_Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales_, edited by Aneurin Owen, 1841.
Footnote 156:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. i., vol. ii., vol. iii.
Footnote 157:
See _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, edited by Cosmo Innes, vol.
i.
Footnote 158:
Sir Henry Maine, in his _Early History of Institutions_, considers
that the unit was the Finé or sept, several of which united to form a
tribe; but it will be shown that the Tuath or tribe preceded the Finé
or clan.
Footnote 159:
See the author’s Introduction to the Dean of Lismore’s Book, pp. xvii.
and xviii.
Footnote 160:
The legendary history of Ireland contains traces of the higher
position of the female.
Footnote 161:
_The Book of Rights_, printed by the Celtic Society, p. 174.
Footnote 162:
_Brehon Laws_, vol. iv. p. 341.
Footnote 163:
The influence of the Church in this respect is recognised in the Welsh
laws.
Footnote 164:
This account of the ranks in the tribe is taken from the
_Crithgabhlach Brehon Laws_, vol. iv. p. 299.
Footnote 165:
Quoted in Sir H. S. Maine’s _Early History of Institutions_, p. 114.
Footnote 166:
_Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 345.
Footnote 167:
_Ibid_. iv. p. 321.
Footnote 168:
Maine, vol. iv. p. 337.
Footnote 169:
_Ibid_. iv. p. 331.
Footnote 170:
_Ibid_. iv. p. 373.
Footnote 171:
See _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, vol. i., No. III., and Appendix
to the _Battle of Maghrath_.
Footnote 172:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iv., _Crithgablach_.
Footnote 173:
_Tribes and Customs of Hy Many_, p. 13.
Footnote 174:
_Early History of Institutions_, p. 23.
Footnote 175:
Cormac’s _Glossary_, voce _Clethac_, p. 29. Mr. O’Curry gives the
following illustration:—A fine of three Cumals, or twenty-one cows,
might be paid thus:—
10 Ri Seoit = 10 cows.
16 Samaisc = 8 cows.
12 Seoitgabla = 3 cows.
Footnote 176:
Published by Celtic Society, p. 107.
Footnote 177:
_Annals of the Four Masters_, i. p. 53.
Footnote 178:
_War of the Gaedhil with Gaill_, p. 49.
Footnote 179:
_Irish Topographical Poems_, p. 9.
Footnote 180:
_Irish Topographical Poems_, p. 1.
Footnote 181:
_Miscellany of the Celtic Society_, p. 49.
Footnote 182:
_Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachraich_, p. 453.
Footnote 183:
Mr. O’Donovan explains _Duthaidh_ as a tract of country hereditary in
some family; _Duthchas_ as a hereditary estate or patrimonial
inheritance; _Duthchasach_ an inheritor or hereditary
proprietor.—_Ib_. p. 149.
Footnote 184:
_Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachriach_, pp. 149-159.
Footnote 185:
_Customs of Hy Many_, preface, p. 4.
Footnote 186:
_Customs of the Hy Many_, Preface, p. 19.
Footnote 187:
_Chorographical Description of West Connaught_, p. 368. The beekeepers
were important functionaries, as honey supplied at that time the place
of sugar.
Footnote 188:
_Ib_. p. 139.
Footnote 189:
_Cat. Stowe MSS._ vol. i. p. 168.
Footnote 190:
Reeves, _Arch. of Down and Connor_, pp. 330, 345.
Footnote 191:
Letter of Sir John Davis, _Coll. de Rebus Hibernicis_, vol. i. pp.
140, 152.
Footnote 192:
Book of Kells, _Irish Arch. Misc._, vol. i. pp. 139, 143.
Footnote 193:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iv. p. 349.
Footnote 194:
There is an elaborate account of the position of the _Ceile_ in the
_Ancient Laws_, vol. ii.; but the position of the _Daor Ceile_ is
shortly and clearly given in Cormac’s _Glossary_, voce _Aicillne_, p.
13.
Footnote 195:
_Ancient Laws_, vol. iv. pp. 39, 287.
Footnote 196:
_Ancient Laws_, vol. iii. p. 11; vol. iv. pp. 39, 43.
Footnote 197:
_Ib_. vol. iv. p. 321.
Footnote 198:
_Ancient Laws_, vol. iv. p. 283. The word _Gabail_ has retained its
technical meaning here in Scotch Gaelic, where it signifies a farm or
lease, and _Gabbailtaiche_ is a tacksman or superior farmer.
Footnote 199:
_Ancient Laws_, vol. i. p. 261.
Footnote 200:
_Ibid_. vol. i. p. 275.
Footnote 201:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iii. pp. 330-35.
Footnote 202:
_Ibid_. vol. ii. p. 163.
Footnote 203:
O’Donovan’s Supplement to O’Reilly’s _Irish Dictionary_.
Footnote 204:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 183.
Footnote 205:
_Ib_. p. 259.
Footnote 206:
_Ib_. p. 273.
Footnote 207:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iv. p. 43.
Footnote 208:
_Ibid_. p. 286.
Footnote 209:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 269.
Footnote 210:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. ii. pp. 279, 281.
Footnote 211:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. ii. pp. 209, 211.
Footnote 212:
_Ib_. pp. 223-5.
Footnote 213:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iii. p. 309.
Footnote 214:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iv. pp. 325, 326.
Footnote 215:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iv. pp. 373, 375.
Footnote 216:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. iii. pp. 495, 497.
Footnote 217:
The word _Lite_ is translated in the Brehon Laws ‘stirabout,’ but this
is a term unknown out of Ireland, and the Scotch correlative
‘porridge’ has been substituted.
Footnote 218:
_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, vol. ii. pp. 147-193.
Footnote 219:
Genealach Corca Laidhe, _Miscellany of the Celtic Society_, pp. 31,
49.
Footnote 220:
_Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy Fiachraich_, pp. 6-11.
Footnote 221:
_Description of West Connaught_, p. 127.
Footnote 222:
Reeves’s _Eccles. Antiquities of Down and Connor_, pp. 332, 345.
Footnote 223:
Reeves’s _Down and Connor_, p. 348.
Footnote 224:
_Collect. de Reb. Hib._, vol. i. pp. 164, 169.
Footnote 225:
_Ancient Laws of Wales_, p. 86.
Footnote 226:
_Ancient Laws of Wales_, pp. 84, 268.
Footnote 227:
_Ancient Laws of Wales_, 82, 5, 6; 697, 5.
Footnote 228:
_Ancient Laws of Wales_, pp. 96, 97. It is not quite clear whether the
length of an _Erw_ is thirty times its breadth, or thirty times the
long yoke. In the latter case the _Erw_ would contain only 1706 square
yards, or rather more than the third of an acre.
Footnote 229:
_Ancient Laws of Wales_, p. 81.
Footnote 230:
_Ib_., p. 263.
Footnote 231:
_Ancient Laws of Wales_, p. 375.
Footnote 232:
_Myvyrian Arch._, vol. iii. p. 298, No. 80.
Footnote 233:
_Ib_., pp. 88, 96, 573.
Footnote 234:
_Welsh Laws_, 394, 699.
Footnote 235:
_Four Ancient Books of Wales_, vol. ii. p. 461.
Footnote 236:
_Ancient Laws_, p. 266.
Footnote 237:
_Ancient Laws_, p. 605. The form of the figure has been slightly
altered, in order to bring it to the same form as that shown in the
Irish system.
Footnote 238:
_Ancient Laws_, pp. 198, 199.
Footnote 239:
_Ancient Laws_, p. 95.
Footnote 240:
_Ib_., p. 98.
Footnote 241:
Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. c. 21.
Footnote 242:
Strabo, lib. iv.
Footnote 243:
Cæsar, _De Bello Gallico_, v. 12.
Footnote 244:
Solinus, c. 22.
Footnote 245:
Xifiline, lib. lxxvi. s. 12-16.
Footnote 246:
These passages are taken from the edition of the _Amra Choluim
Chilli_, with a translation by Mr. O’Beirne Crowe.
Footnote 247:
_Miscellany of the Celtic Society_, p. 61.
Footnote 248:
The word _Gialla_ means a hostage, and the Irish district is said to
have been so named because the hostages of the conquered people were
fettered with golden fetters.
Footnote 249:
_Chronicles of Picts and Scots_, pp. 308-314. The numbers are given as
stated in the tract, but seem not quite correct. Thus there is an
enumeration of the houses of the Cinel Angusa in connection with the
lands occupied by them, which amount to 330 in place of 430, and the
armed muster is not in proportion to the size of the tribe as shown by
the number of houses. It is probable those of the Cinel Gabran and
Cinel Angusa have been transposed, and that the 500 belongs to the
former, the 300 to the latter.
Footnote 250:
_Hist. MSS. Rep._ v., p. 613; Robertson’s _Index_, pp. 39, 57.
Footnote 251:
‘Taisius (_Toisech_) apud nos idem est sensu literali ac Capitaneus
seu precipuus dux.’—O’Flaherty, _Ogygia_.
Footnote 252:
‘Thanus apud priscos Scotos sive Hybernos dicitur Tosche.’—_Regiam
Majestatem_, B. iv. c. 31; note by Sir John Skene.
Footnote 253:
Domania regis et Thanagia regis idem significant. Ass. reg. Da. c.
Statuit Dominus, 38.—Skene, _De Verborum Significatione_.
Si vero in dominicis vel Thanagiis domini regis, etc. Stat. Alex.
II.—_Acts of Parliament_, i. 399.
Footnote 254:
_Acts of Parliament_, i. p. 375.
Footnote 255:
‘Abstractione sanguinis que dicitur Bludwytys.’—_Chart. of Lennox_, p.
44. ‘Bludwytys que Scotice dicitur _fuilrath_.’—_Ib_. p. 45.
Footnote 256:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 663.
Footnote 257:
Thus the son of an _Aire forgall_ was an _Aire ard_.—_Brehon Laws_,
vol. i. p. 77.
Footnote 258:
_Brehon Laws_, vol. i. p. 49; Petrie’s _Antiquities of Tarahill_, p.
199; _Chron. of Picts and Scots_, p. 319.
Footnote 259:
_Acts of Parl._, vol. i. p. 640.
Footnote 260:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 398.
Footnote 261:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 655.
Footnote 262:
_Liber de Scon_, p. 24.
Footnote 263:
_Chart. Dunf._, pp. 6, 17. The two classes are mentioned in a charter
by Thomas, Earl of Mar, in 1359, of the lands of Rotheneyk, ‘cum
nativis et fugitivis dictarum terrarum.’—_Ant. Aberd. and Banff_, vol.
iv. p. 716.
Footnote 264:
These names seem to be derived from the verb _Cum_, tene, retine; and
in the one case _forba_ or _orba_, terra, and in the other _lamh_,
manus, with or without the preposition _ar_, upon. The word _Cum_ is
no doubt the root of the Irish _Cumal_, the primary meaning of which
was a female slave.
Footnote 265:
_Acts of Parl._, vol. i. p. 381.
Footnote 266:
The word Davach has been supposed to be derived from _Damh_ an ox, and
_Achadh_ or _Ach_ a field, and thus to mean oxgang; but the Book of
Deer shows this to be false etymology. The word there in its oldest
form is _Dabach_, and the last syllable is inflected (forming in gen.
pl. _acc_, dual _Dabeg_), which it could not be if it meant _Ach_ a
field. The word is also applied in Ireland to the largest liquid
measure, and appears in this sense in the old Irish Glosses, ‘Caba,
_i.e_. Cavea, _Dabhach_, genitive _Dabhca_’ (p. 63).
Footnote 267:
Dasent’s _Saga of Burnt Njal_.
Footnote 268:
_Chart. of Lennox_, pp. 34, 36, 38. Mr. W. Fraser, in his first report
on the Montrose papers, notes a charter by Alexander of Dunhon to Sir
Patrick of Graham of three quarters of a carucate of land of Akeacloy
nether, _which in Scotch is called Arachor_ (_Hist. MSS. Rep. I._
166); but in his second report quotes two charters by the Earl of
Lennox confirming to Sir David of Graham the half-carucate of land of
Strathblahane, where the church called Arathor in the one charter and
Letharathor in the other was built, but these charters have obviously
been misread. It was not the church but the land conveyed that was
called _Arathor_ or _Letharathor_, that is, carucate or half-carucate
(_ib_. iv. 386).
Footnote 269:
_Antiq. Aberdeen and Banff_, vol. iv. p. 690, where a dimidia
carucata, or half-ploughgate, is said to contain ‘quater xx acras cum
crofto habiente vii acras et communi pastura.’ In the Chartulary of
Arbroath we have ‘una carrucata terræ mensurata et arabilis cum
commune pastura,’ p. 7.
Footnote 270:
_Charters of Holyrood_, p. 44.
Footnote 271:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, p. 114.
Footnote 272:
‘The tenants, particularly of arable farms, have but small
possessions, only the fourth part of a farm, or what is called here a
Horsegang’ (_Stat. Acc. of Kilmartin_, viii. 97). In the Craignish
papers it is termed a quarter or Horsegang, and an eight shilling and
eight-penny land.
Footnote 273:
_Scotch Legal Antiquities_, by Cosmo Innes, p. 270. Mr. Innes was the
first to discover this important analogy.
Footnote 274:
_Origines Parochiales_, vol. ii. part i. pp. 177, 191. Appendix III.
Footnote 275:
Information derived from the late Colonel Macdonell of Glengarry, who
had an accurate knowledge of Highland traditions. In the _Stat. Acc._
of Saddel it is stated that the average stock of a merk land is 4
horses, 12 milch cows with their followers, and 40 sheep with theirs
(vol. xii. p. 477).
Footnote 276:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, lib. xiv. No. 389.
Footnote 277:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, p. 45.
Footnote 278:
_Chartulary of Dunfermline._
Footnote 279:
_Antiquities of Aberdeen and Banff_, vol. ii. p. 273.
Footnote 280:
_Chartulary of Moray_, p. 8.
Footnote 281:
_Ib._ p. 83.
Footnote 282:
_Antiq. of Aberdeen and Banff_, vol. ii. pp. 17, 22.
Footnote 283:
_Antiquities of Aberdeen and Banff_, vol. i. p. 174.
Footnote 284:
_Chartulary of St. Andrews_, p. 238.
Footnote 285:
_Chartulary of Arbroath_, pp. 12, 35.
Footnote 286:
_Chartulary of Glasgow_, p. 12.
Footnote 287:
_Chartulary of Holyrood_, p. 61.
Footnote 288:
_Acts of Parl._, vol. i. p. 378.
Footnote 289:
_Chart. of Moray_, pp. 23, 76, 80.
Footnote 290:
Craig arrives at the true meaning when he says, ‘Meo quidem judicio
melius a _canone_ deducetur, cum idem prope significet. _Canon_ enim
in jure præstationem annuam sive pensitationem innuit, unde canon
frumentarius et canon metallicus.... Est itaque _Cana_ idem quod
_Canica_, sive _Canon_, sive certa præstatio annua, quæ nunquam
naturam feudi per se, neque speciem tenendriæ immutat, ut nulla alia
præstatio annua, nisi exprimatur tenenda in feudifirma.’—_Jus
feudale_, pp. 79, 28.
Footnote 291:
_Liber Ecclesie de Scon_, p. 7.
Footnote 292:
_Chamberlain Rolls_, pp. 6, 50. There is a blank in the record.
Footnote 293:
Appendix III., Athole Papers. _Collect. de Rebus Albanicis_, p. 16.
Footnote 294:
Innes’s _Legal Antiquities_, p. 70; Ware’s _Antiquitates Hibernicæ_,
p. 209; O’Curry, _Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Irish_, vol. iii. p. 495, note; _Ulster Archæol. Journal_, vol. iv. p.
241. Mr. Innes’s attempt to explain these terms will show how
essential an acquaintance with the ancient Irish laws is to the
interpretation of our ancient Scotch customs.
Footnote 295:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, p. 277.
Footnote 296:
Faciendo forinsecum servitium tantum quod pertinet ad quinque davachas
terræ, servitium vero pertinens ad sextam davacham de Blar dictis
canonicis remisimus.—_Liber Ecclesie de Scon_, p. 42.
Footnote 297:
Aliquod servitium nisi forinsecum servitium Scoticanum domini
regis.—_Chart. of Moray_, p. 470.
Footnote 298:
Faciendo forinsecum servitium in exercitu quod pertinet ad predictas
terras.—_Chart. of Arb._, p. 74.
Footnote 299:
Stubbs’s _Select Charters_, pp. 284, 293.
Footnote 300:
This more detailed explanation seems necessary, as the term is often
used loosely, as if the feu-farm holding was a mere tenancy. See the
author’s edition of Fordun, vol. ii. p. 415, for a fuller discussion
of this.
Footnote 301:
The seven earls appear, according to Fordun, at the coronation of King
Alexander the Second, and in the same year he passes some laws,
apparently with consent of these earls, regarding the land. In the
first the expression is, ‘Rex cum communi consilio comitum suorum.’ In
the second, ‘Rex et _principes_ ejus.’ By Fordun they are usually
called _magnates et proceres_.
Footnote 302:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 377. Two popular errors have
prevailed with regard to the true character and position of the
thanes. By the oldest of these they were regarded as the governors of
provinces, having over them an _abthane_ or chief governor. Fordun
seems the inventor of this, and to it belongs his mythic character
Macduff, thane of Fife; but it is inconsistent with the account he
subsequently gives of the tenure of the crown lands, and although it
has received the sanction of Mr. Hill Burton, it has been justly
discarded by such historians as George Chalmers, Joseph Robertson,
Cosmo Innes, and John Stuart. The later theory, that the thanes were
something entirely different from the English thane, and were merely
crown officers or stewards appointed to levy the crown dues, has
unfortunately received the powerful sanction of these writers, but the
author has never been able to accept the theory. It appears to him a
partial and incomplete view, and inconsistent with the facts recorded
regarding them. Sir John Skene states his position correctly when he
says, ‘Thanus was ane freeholder holding his lands of the king.’—_De
Verborum Sig._, sub voce. The reader is referred to the author’s
edition of Fordun, vol. ii. p. 414, for a discussion on this point.
Footnote 303:
‘Milites, _Leg. Malc. Mab._, c. 2, and generalie in the auld lawes of
this realme, are called freehalders, haldand their landes of barons in
chief.’—Skene, _De Verborum Sig._, sub voce.
Footnote 304:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. pp. 375, 377, 380, 382.
Footnote 305:
_Ib_. vol. i. pp. 400, 403.
Footnote 306:
_Ib_. p. 652.
Footnote 307:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, s. 492, iii. 112, iv. 116. The same loose
notions have prevailed of the position of the _libere tenentes_ as of
the thanes, and therefore it has been necessary to treat of both
somewhat at length. _Libere tenentes_ are usually translated ‘free
tenants,’ just as _tenant du Roi_, in Ragman Roll, is usually
translated ‘king’s tenant,’ as if they were tenants in the modern
sense of the term, from the unfortunate propensity to render a word in
one language by its phonetic equivalent in another, though the meaning
may be different; but the true rendering of the one is ‘freeholders,’
and of the other, ‘holding of the king _in capite_.’ Ware defines the
_libere tenentes_ in Ireland as those _qui prædia habebunt, ad hæredes
transmittenda_ (_Ant. Hib._, 209); and Craig gives a very clear
account of these in Scotland (_Jus feudale_, 87. 6; 248. 28; 362. 42).
According to Cowell, ‘Freehold frank tenement, _liberum tenementum_,
is that land or tenement which a man holdeth in fee, feetail, or at
least for term of life.’ Freeholders in the ancient law of Scotland
were called _milites_; and tenement or tenementum, he says,
‘signifies, most properly, a house or homestall, but more largely
either for a house or land that a man holdeth of another, and joined
with the adjective Frank, it contains lands, houses, and offices,
wherein we have estate for term of life or in fee.’
Footnote 308:
Ochiern, ‘Ogitharius,’ is ane name of dignitie and of ane
freehalder.—Skene, _De Verborum Sig._
Footnote 309:
See Erskine’s _Institutes_, vol. i. p. 370, for a good account of the
rentallers or kindlie tenants.
Footnote 310:
_Chart. of Arbroath_, pp. 44, 88. The word _terra_, here translated
land, means usually arable land only. Treiglas is probably
_Traighghlais_ or sea-shore, from Traigh, strand; and Glas, an old
word for the sea.
Footnote 311:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 397.
Footnote 312:
Quod rex debet habere forisfactum _comitum si thani eorum_ remanserunt
ab exercitu, etc.—_Acts of Parliament_, vol. vi. p. 398.