Scotland-lnks – 10/12/03

A set of web links to information on medieval Scotland by Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon.

NOTE: See also the files: Scotland-msg, cl-Scotland-msg, fd-Scotland-msg, oatcakes-msg, cl-Scot-fem-art, cl-Scot-male-art.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that
I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some
messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with
seperate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes
extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were
removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I
make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the
individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these
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credit to the orignator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
    mark.s.harris at motorola.com            stefan at florilegium.org
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From: "Lis" <liontamr at ptd.net>
Date: Tue May 13, 2003  6:11:34 PM US/Central
To: "Stefan li Rous" <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Subject: Medieval Scotland

Greetings everyone!

This week's Links list is about Medieval Scotland. I would have bet money
that there was little information on the topic on the web---and I would have
lost! Below please find 28 sites dedicated to various subjects on medieval
Scotland: Museums, Musicians, Cheese, Clothing, History, Standing Stones,
Women's History, and more.

Please enjoy these links in the spirit they are offered and pass them along
wherever they will find an interested audience.

Cheers

Aoife

Medieval Scotland published by Sharon L. Krossa
http://www.medievalscotland.org/
(Site Excerpt) This is a collection of articles and resources aimed at
anyone interested in Scotland between A.D. 500 and 1603, from about when the
King of Dál Riata moved from Ireland to Argyll to when King James VI of
Scotland inherited the English throne. Because medieval Scotland was not
isolated from its surroundings in either space or time, there are also some
articles concerning related regions and the focus time span is somewhat
flexible. Some of the articles discuss not only what was done in Scotland in
the Middle Ages but also how modern people might re-create aspects of
medieval Scottish culture. While this may be of direct interest mainly to
novelists and historical re-creators (such as those involved with battle
re-enactment societies, renaissance fairs, or the SCA), this way of looking
at things can also help clarify and illustrate actual medieval practice for
anyone.

Scotland's Early Medieval Sculptured Stones
http://www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/projects/SSEMS_web/
(Site Excerpt) The stone sculptures of the 5th to 11th centuries are amongst
the nation's principal cultural assets. Approximately 2000 of the carved
stones erected by the early peoples of Scotland - Picts, Scots, Britons,
Angles and Norse - survive. However, the last comprehensive survey, the
Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, was published in 1903. The great
majority of the stones are not adequately recorded or analysed. More
importantly, many are physically remote and are accessible only through
scholarly publications. These monumental carvings contain images of great
artistic merit and inscriptions of great historical value. They include two
groups of sculptured stones which are unique to Scotland and which are of
international significance as well as inspiring intense local interest: the
Pictish symbol stones and the Celtic high crosses.

About.com's Medieval Scotland
http://historymedren.about.com/cs/medievalscotland/
(Site Excerpt) From the ancient Picts to the Stuart Kings, the Scots have
had an undeniable impact on the British Isles throughout the Middle Ages.
The directories below will lead you to sites that examine Scottish History
in medieval times.

BBC History--Early Medieval Scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/scotland/early_med.shtml
(Site Excerpt) Over three centuries the Scots of Alba, the Angles of
Lothian, the Britons of Strathclyde, the Vikings in the West and the
Normans, who originated from France, were brought together to form the
Kingdom of the Scots. They were led by the strong and increasingly powerful
monarchs of the Canmore dynasty, founded by Malcolm Canmore and his wife
Margaret. These rulers encouraged Scotland to become more "European".
Scottish feudal nobles built their castles and looked after their tenants
like nobles elsewhere in Europe. The idea of trading in "burghs" was another
European idea which the kings encouraged by inviting men from Flanders to
help create Scotland's first towns. Scottish rulers were particularly
interested in strengthening the church in Scotland, particularly by opening
new monasteries across the country.

Clan Map of Medieval Scotland
http://www.gwp.enta.net/scotdisplay.htm
(Site Excerpt) Scotland with its original names The first detailed map of
Scotland were not drawn until 1600, by which time most of the place-names
and clan names had assumed their modern spellings. In 1991, the historical
cartographer, John Garnons Williams, using many early sources, set out to
map Scotland with the spellings of place names and clan names as they were
at 1314, the year of Robert the Bruce's great victory over the English at
Bannockburn. The resulting map of Scotland, the product of over a thousand
hours of research and draughtmanship, shows over 600 place-names and 170
clan names in their earliest forms. It is therefore of equal value to those
delving into the history and genealogy of Scotland, to those researching
their Scottish family history and to the many people of Scottish descent
around the world, who are simply looking for an attractive map of their
mother country.

Friars in Medieval Scotland
http://www.friars-in-medieval-scotland.co.uk/
(Site Excerpt) The orders of friars that emerged in the early thirteenth
century spread rapidly throughout Europe and were a radical new force
amongst the religious orders. The two most significant orders were the
Franciscans founded by St. Francis of Assisi and the Dominicans founded by
St. Dominic. Both received papal approval in around 1215. These orders of
friars were committed to a life of poverty and were 'mendicant' in nature
that is to say that they relied on the charity of others to support them.
This was in marked contrast to monastic orders like the Benedictines whose
abbeys were given endowments of land by their founder and as major
landowners their monasteries were able to become wealthy institutions.
Friars differed from monks in that the latter sought a secluded
contemplative live which did not usually involve very much contact with the
lay folk whereas the friar's role was to go out and preach to the masses.

Scottish Historical Clothing Research
http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/scottish/medievalscot.html
(Site Excerpt) People from the Scottish Lowlands (including William Wallace
and Robert the Bruce) most likely wore clothing in keeping with contemporary
fashions in England and France.  No, Wallace didn't wear a kilt; and he
certainly didn't wear woad.The Scottish Highlands were considered a
backwater of Europe, and not worth much attention, and consequently there
are few descriptions or drawings of what people wore. In addition, few
clothing remains have been found. All of this makes reconstructing a
workable outfit rather difficult.  Even in the later periods, documentation,
especially for womens' clothing, is sketchy.  At the same time, the
Highlands were not absolutely isolated from the clothing trends that
affected the rest of Europe, so one does see changes over time -- for
example, ca. 1100 sleeves throughout Europe were narrow, and that's what we
see in the Rogart Shirt.  In the 1500s, wider sleeves were more popular
throughout Europe, and one sees a wider sleeve in Irish clothing, too
(albeit in a particularly Celtic form).

Medieval Scotland by A.D.M. Barrell (Cambridge University) Adobe Acrobat
required
http://assets.cambridge.org/0521584434/sample/0521584434WS.pdf
(Site Excerpt) The Peoples of England and Scotland were often suspiscious of
one another, sometimes even at war, but both realms could boast a sequence
of monarchs stretching back far into the mists of time. From such a  vantage
point, the development of the two kingdoms might seem an inevitable
consequence of historical process centuries earlier, but in fact there was
nothing inevitable about it, espescially in the case of Scotland.

Warfare in Medieval Scotland
http://www.deremilitari.org/scotlandwarfare.htm
A bibliography of texts for sources.

Scottish History Online Magazine by Robert Gunn
http://members.aol.com/skyelander/main.html
Though the copy function has been disabled, this magazine is a worthwhile
publication, witha  drop-down menu of extensive article sont he subject of
medieval Scotland.

The Scottish Medieval Performing Class
or, A Brief History of Music in Scotland
by Eoghan Og mac Labhrainn
(c) 1997-1998 Matthew Newsome
http://albanach.org/perform.html
(Site Excerpt) This article gleans its information mainly from Henry George
Farmer's book, A History of Music in Scotland.  What I have tried to do it
concentrate on the role of the performing class in Scotland during the
period between the sixth and the sixteenth centuries, and give Farmer's
information on this topic in an abridged format.  This article is taken
largely from my notes, and is intended only as an introduction to the
subject.  Anyone interested is encouraged to read Farmer's text in its
entirety.  All information and quotes come from Farmer, unless noted
otherwise.

Five Euphemias: Women in Medieval Scotland, 1200-1420 ( A book for sale)
http://www.buy.com/retail/books/product.asp?sku=30522129
This book might be worth looking into, through Inter-library loan, etc. for
those with an interest in Scotland an Women's Studies.

Lothene Experimental Archaeology Group: Medieval Scotland
http://www.lothene.demon.co.uk/
(Site excerpt) Lothene is an Edinburgh based group involved in researching
and recreating aspects of life in Scotland in the 11th Century.
The 11th Century was the period in which the present day boundaries of
Scotland were established. Lothene (Lothian), which had previously been a
part of Northumbria, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Scotland by King
Duncan. This was also the time of Macbeth, Malcolm Canmore, and St Margaret,
when Scotland changed from being a primarily Celtic society to one with
wider European links.

Medieval Coinages: Scotland (a bibliography)
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_biblio_md_scotland.html

Tighearn Eoghan Og mac Labhriann
http://albanach.org/eogan.html
This site contains 14 article sfor those interested in Medieval Scotland.

Dispelling medieval Scotland's gloom by Peter Yeoman
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba11/ba11feat.html
(Scroll about 2/3 down the page for the article. Site Excerpt) The modern
Scots have tended to look back on their medieval centuries as a time of
unmitigated misery. It is certainly true that periods of intermittent
warfare, pestilence and famine, coupled with a climate which was even worse
than today, would not seem like a recipe for a Golden Age. And yet for
Scotland the Middle Ages were in fact a period of growth; growth in towns,
in trade, and in standards of living. Scotland embraced urbanism from a
standing start in the early 12th century, through the granting of `burgh'
status by David I and his successors to numerous settlements such as
Edinburgh and Glasgow, Stirling, Berwick, Perth, and St Andrews; and
archaeology has shown that the creation of burghs was rapid and successful.
Urbanism acted as a spur to the spread of innovation and the creation of a
mercantile trading economy, which in turn stimulated an increase in
agricultural production and fundamentally altered the subsistence way of
life that had formerly prevailed throughout much of the country.

Kingdom of the Scots: Monarchy and Power
The Scotland Museum
http://www.nms.ac.uk/mos/galleries/kingdom/kingdom4.htm
(Site Excerpt) Power in medieval Scotland stemmed from the monarchy. For
much of the period Scotland was ruled by the Stewarts, a dynasty of kings
and queens who were ambitious, creative and often warlike. Their story
begins with Robert the Bruce.

National Museums of Scotland
http://www.nms.ac.uk/

Edinburgh University Collectionof Historical Musical Instruments
http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/

National Library of Scotland
http://www.nls.uk/

Recumbent Stones Circles
in North East Scotland
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~lib266/stones/main.htm
(Site Excerpt) Recumbent Stone Circles are a distinctive type of stone
circle found in North East Scotland. Two stones, often the tallest ones,
flank a large recumbent stone lying on its side, weighing many tons. Mostly
facing South West but with regional variations, its purpose is uncertain,
but it is thought to be a level "frame" over which to observe the movements
of the moon. The following examples are only a fraction of the hundred or so
surviving Recumbent Stone Circles in North East Scotland

Greatest artifact of all time (Stone of Scone)
http://www.theseason.org/wwwboard/messages/3.html
(Site Excerpt) This is the legend of one of the greatest artifacts of all
time.The Stone of Scone also refered to as The Stone of  Destiny or the
Coronation Stone on which Kings and Queens of Ireland,Scotland and England
have been crowned for century after century.The stone itself is a 336 lb.
chunk of yellow sandstone. The stone goes back to Old testament times when
according to legend Jacob used the stone as a pillow when he
saw the ladder going into heaven as told in Genesis 28:10-22 during his
dream Angels made prophecies to Jacob
and when he awoke he used the stone to build a pillar after annointing it
with oil and calling the place where he
had slept Bethel .

About Scottish Castles
http://www.impressions.uk.com/castles/
(Site Excerpt) Scotlands castles, there are over 3000 castles in Scotland.
This site tells the stories of some of Scotlands greatest castles,palaces
and monuments we have also included pictures of our unique collectable miniatures some are reconstruted to bring back to life these once great monuments in stone. Use our Auto Jump Off points above to browse your way through some of the Scottish castles, monuments and palaces of Scotland that we have to offer.

Cheese-making in Scotland, an Early History
http://www.efr.hw.ac.uk/SDA/cheese1.html
(Site Excerpt) A few miles from the author's home in Wiltshire,UK,
perforated earthenware bowls dating back to 1800 BC have been unearthed on
Windmill Hill, an enclosure built by the Neolithic 'beaker people'. These
could well have been used for draining cheese curd. To this day woven
baskets are still used in India for the making of Surati Panir and Dacca
curds.

Knights and Warriors prepare for Caerlaverock Castle Siege
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/ne_news_events/ne_archives/news_caerlaverocksiege.htm
(Site Excerpt) Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, will oversee a medieval
siege at Caerlaverock Castle near Dumfries this summer, just as he did
exactly 700 years ago. The 'king' will be taking part in Historic Scotland's
biggest ever event of its type on July 8 and 9, when more than 200
performers will recreate the two-day siege. Caerlaverock Castle, near
Dumfries, was caught up in the fierce Wars of Independence and like many
other border fortresses, its Scottish defenders fought hard to resist the
attack.An epic poem detailing the battle at Caerlaverock still exists and
this is being used as the blueprint for the recreated siege. Although the
garrison ultimately surrendered in 1300, their courage so impressed the
victors that their lives were spared and each soldier was given a new suit
of clothes.

Medieval History of Scotland
http://www.medieval-life.net/medieval_history_scotland.htm
(Site Excerpt) The Middle Ages saw the birth of Scotland. This land had been
under constant attack from Norsemen, Picts, Britons, Celts, and Angles, but
Kenneth Macalpine, King of Scots, in 843 united clans and declared himself
ruler of Scotia. He took the Stone of Destiny to Scone to be used for his
coronation. This stone is traditionally regarded as the pillow Jacob used
when he dreamt of a ladder carrying angels between heaven and earth.
Generations of Scottish kings were crowned on a throne that housed this
stone. William the Lion's ill-fated expedition to capture Northumberland in
1174 led to the humiliating Treaty of Falaise that placed Scotland under
English rule. This rule was increasingly severe through the time of Edward
I, who named himself overlord of Scotland. Scots patriot William Wallace,
whose exploits were later immortalized in the movie Braveheart, resisted
Edward and was later executed for this. Robert the Bruce went to Scone
castle in 1306 and had himself named King, and went on to defeat Edward II's
forces at Bannockburn in 1314 and win back Scottish independence.

<the end>