THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND.
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THE HISTORY
OF
CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND.
BY
JOHN MACKINTOSH, LL.D.
_Author of “The Story of Scotland,”
“The Revolution of 1688 and Viscount Dundee,”
“The Highland Land Question Historically Considered,” Etc._
_A NEW EDITION._
PARTLY REWRITTEN, AND CAREFULLY REVISED THROUGHOUT.
Volume First.
ALEXANDER GARDNER,
Publisher to her Majesty the Queen,
PAISLEY, AND 26 PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON.
1892
PREFACE.
IN recent years the study of the human race has been prosecuted in many
directions, and the range of the historic view has been much extended.
Researches have been made in the departments of anthropology, ethnology,
philology, archæology, and craniology, and thus a great body of
materials, more or less valuable for historical purposes, has been
collected. It is the special function of the historian to discriminate
and estimate the value of such materials.
Fifteen years have elapsed since the issue of the first volume of
the present work. Since then there has been much investigation into
prehistoric subjects, many ancient structures within the limited area
to which this work is specially devoted, having been carefully examined;
while, by the publication of the series of Exchequer Rolls, Burgh
Records, and other important documents, the materials relating to the
twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, have been
rendered more accessible. In preparing this volume for a new edition,
I have found it necessary to recast and rewrite the whole. Two new
sections have been added to the Introduction, while most of the others
have been much enlarged. About one-fourth of the volume is new.
This is the first attempt to present a synthetic narrative of the
condition, progress, and development of the civilisation of the people
from the earliest traces of their occupation of the country down to the
present day. The difficulties in the way of successfully accomplishing
such a work are obvious, and I can scarcely hope that I have completely
vanquished them; still, I trust that this effort will prove interesting
and valuable. While the statements of ascertained facts may be
implicitly relied upon, yet the more obscure prehistoric phenomena
may be susceptible of different interpretations; in such cases, I have
endeavoured to make the best use of such evidence as is available.
Amongst the works which have appeared on the early history of Scotland,
Dr. Anderson’s two volumes of the Rhind Lectures, entitled, _Scotland
in Pagan Times_, are especially valuable. Sir Arthur Mitchell also
has made some very important suggestions. To Mr. Alexander Macbain, an
eminent Celtic scholar, and author of a work on Celtic Mythology, I am
indebted for information touching the religion of the Celts in early
times.
Regarding the Normans, and the introduction of Norman feudalism into
Scotland, after a full examination of the evidence, I have rejected
many of the conclusions of preceding historians, especially on
questions relating to the land and the people.
The social state of the nation in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
has been treated at length, and many interesting points explained;
while the chapters on the disputed Succession, and the War of
Independence, have been much enlarged. The tenth chapter contains an
exhaustive view of the social state and characteristics of the nation
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the materials for which have
been mainly drawn from the National Records and other original sources.
The chapters on Literature, Education, and Art, have been improved and
rendered more complete.
J. M.
ABERDEEN,
February, 1892.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.――INTRODUCTION.
SECTION I.
_The Scope of the Work._
⭘ The Import and Interest of the Subject――Primary Causes of
Civilisation――Influence of Climate, Soil, and Food on the
development of Man――Origin of Myths