Native Lordship in Medieval Scotland

Native Lordship in Medieval Scotland
Author: Cynthia J. Neville
Publisher:
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN:

In the century or so after 1125 significant numbers of Anglo-Norman and European noblemen settled in Scotland at the invitation of the crown, chiefly in the lowlands. North of the Forth, however, lay large provincial lordships ruled on behalf of the king by hereditary lords known as 'mormaers'. Even after the arrival of the newcomers, the native rulers of this area, Gaelic speakers for the most part, remained a small, powerful, and largely independent group. During a period of profound change for Scottish royal givernment, it saw Robert I seize power in 1306. Using the lordships of Strathearn and Lennox as focal points, this book explores the complex nature of the encounter between the cultures of the Gaels and the Europeans, and shows how important were native customs and practices in the making of the later medieval kingdom.

Land Law and People in Medieval Scotland

Land Law and People in Medieval Scotland
Author: Neville Cynthia J. Neville
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2012-10-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0748664637

This ambitious book, newly available in paperback, examines the encounter between Gaels and Europeans in Scotland in the central Middle Ages, offering new insights into an important period in the formation of the Scots' national identity. It is based on a close reading of the texts of several thousand charters, indentures, brieves and other written sources that record the business conducted in royal and baronial courts across the length and breadth of the medieval kingdom between 1150 and 1400.Under the broad themes of land, law and people, this book explores how the customs, laws and traditions of the native inhabitants and those of incoming settlers interacted and influenced each other. Drawing on a range of theoretical and methodological approaches, the author places her subject matter firmly within the recent historiography of the British Isles and demonstrates how the experience of Scotland was both similar to, and a distinct manifestation of, a wider process of Europeanisation.

The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290

The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290
Author: Alice Taylor
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 576
Release: 2016-03-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191066109

This is the first full-length study of Scottish royal government in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ever to have been written. It uses untapped legal evidence to set out a new narrative of governmental development. Between 1124 and 1290, the way in which kings of Scots ruled their kingdom transformed. By 1290 accountable officials, a system of royal courts, and complex common law procedures had all been introduced, none of which could have been envisaged in 1124. The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290 argues that governmental development was a dynamic phenomenon, taking place over the long term. For the first half of the twelfth century, kings ruled primarily through personal relationships and patronage, only ruling through administrative and judicial officers in the south of their kingdom. In the second half of the twelfth century, these officers spread north but it was only in the late twelfth century that kings routinely ruled through institutions. Throughout this period of profound change, kings relied on aristocratic power as an increasingly formal part of royal government. In putting forward this narrative, Alice Taylor refines or overturns previous understandings in Scottish historiography of subjects as diverse as the development of the Scottish common law, feuding and compensation, Anglo-Norman 'feudalism', the importance of the reign of David I, recordkeeping, and the kingdom's military organisation. In addition, she argues that Scottish royal government was not a miniature version of English government; there were profound differences between the two polities arising from the different role and function aristocratic power played in each kingdom. The volume also has wider significance. The formalisation of aristocratic power within and alongside the institutions of royal government in Scotland forces us to question whether the rise of royal power necessarily means the consequent decline of aristocratic power in medieval polities. The book thus not only explains an important period in the history of Scotland, it places the experience of Scotland at the heart of the process of European state formation as a whole.

Lords and Lordship in the British Isles in the Late Middle Ages

Lords and Lordship in the British Isles in the Late Middle Ages
Author: Rees Davies
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2009-06-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191570532

It is well known that political, economic, and social power in the British Isles in the Middle Ages lay in the hands of a small group of domini-lords. In his final book, the late Sir Rees Davies explores the personalities of these magnates, the nature of their lordship, and the ways in which it was expressed in a diverse and divided region in the period 1272-1422. Although their right to rule was rarely questioned, the lords flaunted their identity and superiority through the promotion of heraldic lore, the use of elevated forms of address, and by the extravagant display of their wealth and power. Their domestic routine, furnishings, dress, diet, artistic preferences, and pastimes all spoke of a lifestyle of privilege and authority. Warfare was a constant element in their lives, affording access to riches and reputation, but also carrying the danger of capture, ruin and even death, while their enthusiasm for crusades and tournaments testified to their energy and bellicose inclinations. Above all, underpinning the lords' control of land was their control of men-a complex system of dependence and reward that Davies restores to central significance by studying the British Isles as a whole. The exercise and experience of lordship was far more varied than the English model alone would suggest.

Domination and Lordship

Domination and Lordship
Author: Richard Oram
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2011-02-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 0748687688

This book discussed the processes by which the Gaelic kingdom of Alba established its mastery over the lesser kingdoms of northern mainland Britain and transformed itself into a state recognisable as Scotland.

Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland

Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland
Author: Elizabeth Ewan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351936433

In this interdisciplinary collaboration, an international group of scholars have come together to suggest new directions for the study of the family in Scotland circa 1300-1750. Contributors apply tools from across a range of disciplines including art history, literature, music, gender studies, anthropology, history and religious studies to assess creatively the broad range of sources which inform our understanding of the pre-modern Scottish family. A central purpose of this volume is to encourage further studies in this area by highlighting the types of sources available, as well as actively engaging in broader historiographical debates to demonstrate how important and effective family studies are to advancing our understanding of the past. Articles in the first section demonstrate the richness and variety of sources that exist for studies of the Scottish family. These essays clearly highlight the uniqueness, feasibility and value of family studies for pre-industrial Scotland. The second and third sections expand upon the arguments made in part one to demonstrate the importance of family studies for engaging in broader historiographical issues. The focus of section two is internal to the family. These articles assess specific family roles and how they interact with broader social forces/issues. In the final section the authors explore issues of kinship ties (an issue particularly associated with popular images of Scotland) to examine how family networks are used as a vehicle for social organization.

Law and Legal Consciousness in Medieval Scotland

Law and Legal Consciousness in Medieval Scotland
Author: Hector L. MacQueen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 615
Release: 2023-10-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004683763

This book explores the rise of a Scottish common law from the twelfth century on despite the absence until around 1500 of a secular legal profession. Key stimuli were the activity of church courts and canon lawyers in Scotland, coupled with the example provided by neighbouring England’s common law. The laity’s legal consciousness arose from exposure to law by way of constant participation in legal processes in court and daily transactions. This experience enabled some to become judges, pleaders in court and transactional lawyers and lay the foundations for an emergent professional group by the end of the medieval period.

Crossing Borders: Boundaries and Margins in Medieval and Early Modern Britain

Crossing Borders: Boundaries and Margins in Medieval and Early Modern Britain
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2018-04-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004364951

A set of essays intended to recognize the scholarship of Professor Cynthia Neville, the papers gathered here explore borders and boundaries in medieval and early modern Britain. Over her career, Cynthia has excavated the history of border law and social life on the frontier between England and Scotland and has written extensively of the relationships between natives and newcomers in Scotland’s Middle Ages. Her work repeatedly invokes jurisdiction as both a legal and territorial expression of power. The essays in this volume return to themes and topics touched upon in her corpus of work, all in one way or another examining borders and boundaries as either (or both) spatial and legal constructs that grow from and shape social interaction. Contributors are Douglas Biggs, Amy Blakeway, Steve Boardman, Sara M. Butler, Anne DeWindt, Kenneth F. Duggan, Elizabeth Ewan, Chelsea D.M. Hartlen, K.J. Kesselring, Tom Lambert, Shannon McSheffrey, and Cathryn R. Spence.

Norman Expansion

Norman Expansion
Author: Keith J. Stringer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016-05-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317086686

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Normans had a formative influence on the development of states and societies in the British Isles, southern Italy and the Levant. Their achievements still resonate powerfully today, and represent a vital field of historical study. But how far did colonial elites define themselves as Norman, and to what extent were they categorized as such by others? What were the defining attributes of the supremacies achieved by the Normans, and by other incomers associated with them, and how decisive and diverse was the impact of their influence on local power-structures and native societies? How readily did they reach accommodations with those societies, and how might their own identities be renegotiated within the context of cross-cultural encounters? And, in terms of the progress and practices of state-formation, what was the balance between ’old’ and ’new’? These are some of the key questions addressed in this collection of essays, which also treats the Normans as a genuinely European phenomenon. Norman activity in the British Isles and in the Mediterranean lands receives equal coverage; and the topics explored include identities and identification, marriage policies, acculturation, the pre-existing landscapes of power and how far they were transformed, castle-building strategies, the nature of frontiers, urban government, and law and legislation. This volume therefore serves both to illustrate and to open up for fresh debate many of the salient themes concerning the Norman experience of diaspora and settlement. At the same time, it seeks to underscore how the dynamics, character and consequences of Norman expansion - and the connections, continuities and contrasts - can better be appreciated by taking the wider Norman world, or worlds, as the focus for collective study.

New Perspectives on Medieval Scotland, 1093-1286

New Perspectives on Medieval Scotland, 1093-1286
Author: Matthew Hammond
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 1843838532

The essays collected here consider the changes and development of Scotland at a time of considerable flux in the 12th and 13th centuries.