_Historical and Traditional Phenomena associated with their Area of
Distribution._
(Compiled chiefly from Dr. Skene's works.)
In the year A.D. 79, Julius Agricola, with his legions, entered that
portion of Britain afterwards known as the kingdom of Scotland by way
of the Solway Firth, and, quickly subjugating the tribes occupying its
northern shore, garrisoned the country as he advanced. The work of the
following winter is thus described by Tacitus:--
"To introduce a system of new and wise regulations was the business
of the following winter. A fierce and savage people, running wild
in the woods, would be ever addicted to a life of warfare. To wean
them from these habits, Agricola held forth the baits of pleasure,
encouraged the natives, as well by public assistance, as by warm
exhortations, to build temples, courts of justice, and commodious
dwelling-houses. He bestowed encomiums on such as cheerfully
obeyed; the slow and uncomplying were branded with reproach; and
thus a spirit of emulation diffused itself, operating like a sense
of duty. To establish a plan of education, and give the sons of
the leading chiefs a tincture of letters, was part of his policy.
By way of encouragement he praised their talents, and already saw
them, by the force of their natural genius, rising superior to
the attainments of the Gauls. The consequence was, that they, who
had always disdained the Roman language, began to cultivate its
beauties. The Roman apparel was seen without prejudice, and the
toga became a fashionable part of dress. By degrees the charms of
vice gained admission to their hearts; baths, and porticos, and
elegant banquets grew into vogue; and the new manners, which, in
fact, served only to sweeten slavery, were by the unsuspecting
Britons called the arts of polished humanity."--(_Vit. Agric._
chap. 21.)
During the following summer, A.D. 80, Agricola pursued his journey
northwards and entered on a country hitherto unknown to the Romans,
and described by Tacitus as occupied by _new nations_, which he laid
waste as far as the Firth of Tay. During the six following years this
general was engaged in bringing the wild Caledonians under subjection.
In the year 81 he erected a chain of forts between the Firths of Forth
and Clyde. Subsequently he visited Argyll and Kintyre, as well as the
eastern counties, and explored the interior as far as the Grampian
range of mountains. At the same time, the fleet, sailing northwards
along the east coast, circumnavigated the island and returned by the
straits of Dover to its former station. These exploits roused the
warlike spirit of the Caledonians, and all the northern tribes combined
to resist the progress of the invaders, the result of which was the
famous battle of Mons Grampius (A.D. 86), in which 30,000 Caledonians
were totally routed. Tacitus in his description of the battle states
that the Caledonians were arranged in lines along the slopes of the
rising ground, having their charioteers and cavalry in front, and that
their weapons were arrows, long pointless swords, and small targets;
whereas the Romans used large shields and short pointed swords, which
gave them the advantage at close quarters. As soon as the battle was
known at Rome, Agricola was recalled through the jealousy of the
Emperor Domitian, so that no advantage was taken of the campaign, and
the result was that the northern tribes beyond the Tay retained their
independence.
From the recall of Agricola till the accession of the Emperor Hadrian,
A.D. 117, nothing is known of the condition of this part of the island.
Hadrian visited Britain in the year 120, and appears to have put down
a threatened insurrection by giving up Agricola's line of forts, and
limiting the frontier of the province to a line right across the
territory of the Brigantes from the Solway Firth to the river Tyne.
Along this line he constructed an immense barrier consisting of, first,
on the north side, a ditch, then a stone wall, and then an earthen
rampart. Between the two latter were roads for the transmission of
troops, with stations, castles, and watch-towers. But this barrier did
not act for a long time as a check to the independent section of the
Brigantes, who, early in the reign of Antoninus, crossed the wall and
overran portions of the Roman Province. But Lollius Urbicus, who was
sent to Britain, quickly subdued these hostile tribes (A.D. 139),
and again extended the Province to its former limit, viz., the line
between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, where he constructed an earthen
rampart--"Alio muro cespiticio submotis barbaris ducto."
In A.D. 162 an attempt on the Province by the northern tribes was
quelled by Calphurnius Agricola.
Twenty years later they made another formidable irruption into the
Province, but were repelled by Marcellus Ulpius.
In A.D. 208 the Emperor Severus found it necessary to come in person to
repel these frequent and formidable attacks of the northern barbarians,
whom we now find under the names of Mæatæ and Caledonii. The former
occupied the lower lands next the wall, and the latter the mountainous
regions beyond, but notwithstanding the difference in name, they appear
to have been virtually the same people.
"The manners of the two nations are described as the same, and
they are viewed by the historians in these respects as if they
were but one people. They are said to have neither walls nor
cities, as the Romans regarded such, and to have neglected the
cultivation of the ground. They lived by pasturage, the chase,
and the natural fruits of the earth. The great characteristics of
the tribes believed to be indigenous were found to exist among
them. They fought in chariots, and to their arms of the sword and
shield, as described by Tacitus, they had now added a short spear
of peculiar construction, having a brazen knob at the end of the
shaft, which they shook to terrify their enemies, and likewise
a dagger. They are said to have had community of women, and the
whole of their progeny were reared as the joint offspring of each
small community. And the third great characteristic, the custom of
painting the body, attracted particular notice. They are described
as puncturing their bodies, so as, by a process of tattooing, to
produce the representation of animals, and to have refrained from
clothing, in order that what they considered an ornament should not
be hidden."--(Skene, _Celtic Scotland_, vol. i. p. 83.)
Severus opened up the country by cutting down woods, throwing bridges
across the rivers, clearing the jungles, and making roads in various
directions, and in this manner, after great loss of human life, but
without fighting a single battle, he penetrated as far north as
the shores of the Moray Firth. Returning through the heart of the
Highlands he concluded a peace with the Caledonians, from whom he
received hostages. He then rebuilt the wall between the Clyde and the
Forth and returned to York. Soon afterwards the Mæatæ and Caledonii
again revolted, and thus a second time drew forth the ire of the aged
Emperor, but, while he was preparing a severe revenge, death overtook
him.
Little is known of the subsequent relative positions of the Romans and
Caledonians till A.D. 306, when Constantius Chlorus is said to have
penetrated into the low country beyond the wall, and defeated the Picts.
For upwards of fifty years there is again a complete silence as to the
conduct of the natives beyond the Roman boundary, and it is not till
A.D. 360 that they reappear on the historic field. Then the comparative
security and prosperity enjoyed by the provincial Britons during the
last 150 years was broken, and the inroads of the barbarians into the
province became so formidable that they appeared to be deliberate
attempts to drive the Romans entirely out of Britain. The Picts were
now joined by a new nation which emerged from Ireland, and became known
to the Romans under the name Scoti. The effect of this combination of
hostile tribes is thus described by Mr. Skene:--
"We learn from the account given by the historian of their eventual
recovery, that the districts ravaged by the Picts were those
extending from the territories of the independent tribes to the
wall of Hadrian between the Tyne and the Solway, and that the
districts occupied by the Scots were in a different direction.
They lay on the western frontier, and consisted of part of the
mountain region of Wales on the coast opposite to Ierne, or the
island of Ireland, from whence they came.... During four years
the invading tribes retained possession of the districts they had
occupied, and were with difficulty prevented from overrunning
the province; but in the fourth year a more formidable irruption
took place. To the two nations of the Picts and the Scots were
now added two other invading tribes--the Saxons, who had already
made themselves known and dreaded by their piratical incursions
on the coast; and the Attacotti, who, we shall afterwards find,
were a part of the inhabitants of the territory on the north of
Hadrian's wall, from which the Romans had been driven out on its
seizure by the independent tribes. They now joined the Picts in
invading the province from the north, while the attack of the
Saxons must have been directed against the south-eastern shore;
and thus assailing the provinces on three sides--the Saxons making
incursions on the coast between the Wash and Portsmouth, afterwards
termed the Saxon Shore, where they appear to have slain Nectarides,
the Count of the maritime tract, the Picts and Attacotts on the
north placing Fallofandus, the Dux Britanniarum, whose duty it was
to guard the northern frontier, in extreme peril, and the Scots
penetrating through the mountains of Wales--the invading tribes
penetrated so far into the interior, and the extent and character
of their ravages so greatly threatened the very existence of the
Roman government, that the Emperor (Julian) became roused to the
imminence of the danger, and, after various officers had been sent
without effect, the most eminent commander of the day, Theodosius
the elder, was despatched to the assistance of the Britons. He
found the province in the possession of the Picts, the Scots, and
the Attacotts, who were ravaging it and plundering the inhabitants
in different directions. The Picts, we are told, were then
divided into two nations, the 'Dicalidonæ' and the 'Vecturiones,'
a division evidently corresponding to the twofold division of
the hostile tribes in the time of Severus, the 'Caledonii' and
the 'Mæatæ.' The similarity of name and situation sufficiently
identifies the first-mentioned people in each of the twofold
divisions. The Mæatæ had been obliged to cede a part of their
territory to the Romans, so that part of the nation had passed
under their rule, and a part only remaining independent probably
gave rise to the new name of 'Vecturiones.' The 'Attacotti,' we are
told, were a warlike nation of the Britons, and the epithet applied
to the 'Scoti' of ranging here and there shows that their attacks
must have been made on different parts of the coast."--(Skene,
_Celtic Scotland_, vol. i. pp. 98-100.)
Theodosius, with a powerful army, soon drove back the invaders, and
restored the province to its former integrity; but his success was
without any permanent result. During the next forty years, till the
final withdrawal of the Roman troops in A.D. 410, the provincial
Britons, especially those inhabiting the district between the two
walls, became a prey to the surrounding hostile nations as often as
the increasing demands on the military resources of the Empire at home
caused a temporary retirement of its troops. Thus, during the short
period here referred to, the portion of the Province was overrun and
desolated no less than three different times, and as often restored
by the Roman legions. At length, however, a time came when these were
destined never to return, and the semi-Romanised Britons were allowed
to struggle with the northern barbarians as best they could. What took
place in North Britain after this great event, or how the contending
nationalities settled the country among them, can only be gleaned by
the uncertain voice of tradition; nor was the veil of darkness which
thus fell on the country removed till a new source of historical
records sprung up by means of the civilising influence of the early
Christian Church and her learned emissaries.
"When the page of history once more opens to its annals, we find
that the barbaric nations whom we left harassing the Roman province
till the Romans abandoned the island, had now effected fixed
settlements within the island, and formed permanent kingdoms within
its limits. South of the Firths of Forth and Clyde we find her
containing a Saxon organisation, and tribes of Teutonic descent,
hitherto known by the general name of Saxons, in full possession
of her most valuable and fertile districts, and the Romans of the
old British provincials confined to the mountains of Wales and
Cumbria, the western districts extending from the Solway to the
Clyde, and the peninsula of Cornwall. North of the Firths we find
the barbarian tribes of the Picts and Scots, which had so often
harassed the Roman province from the north and west, formed into
settled kingdoms with definite limits; while Hibernia or Ireland
now appears under the additional designation of Scotia."--(Skene,
_Celtic Scotland_, vol. i. p. 115.)
The settlements of these four nationalities were as follows:--The
Angles occupied the south-eastern district, and ultimately formed the
kingdom of Northumbria, which extended from the Firth of Forth to the
river Humber. The provincial Britons were divided into several petty
states, which originally belonged to two varieties of the British
race. Those in the northern districts, corresponding to the Damnonii
of Ptolemy, and occupying the modern shires of Lanark, Renfrew, and
Ayr, are said to have belonged to the Cornish variety; while the
Cymric branch extended as far north as Dumfriesshire. The battle of
Ardderyd[42] (Arthuret, west side of the Esk near Carlisle), in A.D.
573, which ended in the defeat of the Angles, consolidated these petty
states into the kingdom of Cumbria or Strathclyde under Rhydderch with
the fortress of Alclyde (Dumbarton) as its capital. (573-601 Rodercus
filius Totail regnavit in Petra Cloithe.--Adamnan.)
The counties of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright were occupied in the
second century by the Novantæ, having two towns called Rerigonium
and Leucopibia. The ancient Celtic name of the district was in Irish
Gallgaidhel (_i.e. foreign Gael_), and in Welsh Galwydel, and hence in
Latin _Gallovidia, Galloweithia_, now Galloway. Its inhabitants were
called by Bede "Niduari Picti," and they were known as the Galloway
Picts as late as the twelfth century. The most puzzling statement about
this district is that of Chalmers (_Caledonia_, i. p. 358), who states
that Galloway was colonised in the eighth century by the Cruithne from
Ireland. Cruithne is the Irish equivalent to Picti, and a people known
by this name occupied the larger portion of Ulster. According to Skene,
however, Chalmers's statement is not supported by any evidence.
The Scots forming the kingdom of Dalriada occupied that portion of the
west of Scotland corresponding to Argyllshire, and had the fortress of
Dunadd as their chief stronghold.
The rest of Scotland, with the exception of a portion of the low
country near the Roman wall, which became a debatable territory,
and often the theatre of wars amongst the four surrounding nations,
constituted the so-called Pictish kingdom.
Christianity was introduced into Scotland from two different sources.
The Southern Picts were converted to the Faith by St. Ninian, who
derived his teaching direct from Rome, and founded a church at Candida
Casa (Whithorn) as early as A.D. 397; while St. Columba, the Apostle of
the Northern Picts, came from Ireland in A.D. 563, and developed the
Columban branch of the Church, having its headquarters at Iona. The
more important of the subsequent events of these four kingdoms are here
briefly arranged in chronological order:--
A.D. 573. Battle of Ardderyd.
A.D. 575. Aidan becomes king of the Scots.
A.D. 603. Angles of Bernicia defeat a combined army of Britons and
Scots under the command of Aidan at Degsastane, now Dawstone, in
Liddesdale.
A.D. 606. Death of Aidan, king of Dalriada; Aedilfrid conquers
Deira and expels Aeduin.
A.D. 617. Aeduin regains the kingdom of Northumbria, and eleven
years afterwards he and his people are converted to Christianity by
Paulinus.
A.D. 642-670. Angles, under King Oswy, subdue and make tributary to
him the Britons of Strathclyde, as well as the greater portion of
the Picts and Scots.
A.D. 672. Unsuccessful attempt of the Picts to throw off the yoke
of the Angles.
A.D. 684. Ecgfrid, king of Northumbria, sends an army to Ireland,
and lays waste part of that country. In the following year he
invades the kingdom of the Picts, but is defeated and slain at
Dunnichen. The Picts, Scots, and Britons of Strathclyde, etc., now
regain their freedom, but the Angles still retain possession of
Galloway.
A.D. 740. Alpin, king of the Scots of Dalriada, invades Galloway,
but is slain near Kirkcudbright.
A.D. 744. Battle between Angus, king of the Picts, and the Britons
of Strathclyde. Soon afterwards the former is joined by Eadberct of
Northumbria, and a combined attack on the kingdom of Strathclyde is
made, with the result that the latter adds the whole of Ayrshire
to his Galloway possessions. (Eadbertus campum Cyil cum aliis
regionibus suo regno addidit.--Bede, _Chron._)
A.D. 795. First appearance of Norwegian and Danish pirates in the
western seas.
A.D. 802. Iona burned by Norsemen.
A.D. 806. Iona again plundered by Norsemen, and sixty-eight men of
the monastery slain.
A.D. 844. Kenneth mac Alpin, king of the Scots, becomes also king
of the Picts.
A.D. 853. Arrival of Olaf the White in Ireland. He seizes Dublin,
and establishes himself there as king, after which he makes an
expedition into Scotland, besieges, and takes Alclyde after a siege
of four months.
A.D. 946. Kingdom of Cumbria ceded to Malcolm, king of the Scots.
(Strat Clut vastata est a Saxonibus.--_Hist. Brit._)