An diofar eadar na mùthaidhean a rinneadh air "Rìoghachd na h-Alba"

{{Main|History of Scotland}}

 

{{Main|Origins of the Kingdom of Alba}}

From the fifth century North Britain was divided into a series of petty kingdoms. Of these the four most important were the those of the [[Picts]] in the north-east, the Scots of [[Dál Riata]] in the north-west, the Britons of [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]] in the south-west and the [[Angles|Anglian]] kingdom of [[Bernicia]] in the south-east and stretching into modern northern England. This situation was transformed in AD 793 when ferocious Viking raids began on monasteries like Iona and Lindisfarne, creating fear and confusion across the kingdoms of North Britain. [[Orkney Islands|Orkney]], [[Shetland Isles|Shetland]] and the Western Isles eventually fell to the Norsemen.<ref>W. E. Burns, ''A Brief History of Great Britain'' (Infobase Publishing, 2009), ISBN 0816077282, pp. 44-5.</ref> These threats may have speeded a long term process of gaelicisation of the Pictish kingdoms, which adopted Gaelic language and customs. There was also a merger of the Gaelic and Pictish crowns, although historians debate whether it was a Pictish takeover of Dál Riata, or the other way around. This culminated in the rise of [[Kenneth I of Scotland|Cínaed mac Ailpín]] (Kenneth MacAlpin) as "king of the Picts" in the 840s (traditionally dated to 843),<ref name=Webster1997p15>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), ISBN 0333567617, p. 15.</ref> which brought to power the [[House of Alpin]].<ref name=Yorke2006p54>B. Yorke, ''The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c.600-800'' (Pearson Education, 2006), ISBN 0582772923, p. 54.</ref> When he died as king of the combined kingdom in 900 one of his successors, [[Donald II of Scotland|Domnall II]] (Donald II), was the first man to be called ''rí Alban'' (i.e. ''King of Alba'').<ref>A. O. Anderson, ''Early Sources of Scottish History, A.D. 500 to 1286'' (General Books LLC, 2010), vol. i, ISBN 1152215728, p. 395.</ref> The term Scotia would be increasingly be used to describe the heartland of these kings, north of the [[River Forth]], and eventually the entire area controlled by its kings would be referred to as Scotland.<ref name=Webster1997p22>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), ISBN 0333567617, pp. 22.</ref> The long reign (900–942/3) of Donald's successor [[Constantine II of Scotland|Causantín]] (Constantine II) is often regarded as the key to formation of the Kingdom of Alba/Scotland and he was later credited with bringing Scottish Christianity into conformity with the Catholic Church.<ref>A. Woolf, ''From Pictland to Alba: 789 - 1070'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), ISBN 0748612343, p. 128.</ref>

 

{{Main|Medieval Scotland}}

[[Malcolm I of Scotland|Máel Coluim I]] (Malcolm I) (r. c. 943–954) annexed [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]], over which the kings of Alba had probably exercised some authority since the later ninth century.<ref>B. T. Hudson, ''Kings of Celtic Scotland'' (Westport: Greenhill 1994), ISBN 0313290873, pp. 95–6.</ref> The reign of [[David I of Scotland|David I]] has been characterised as a "[[Davidian Revolution]]",<ref name=Barrow1992pp9-11>G. W. S. Barrow, "David I of Scotland: The Balance of New and Old", in G. W. S. Barrow, ed., ''Scotland and Its Neighbours in the Middle Ages'', (London, 1992), pp. 9&ndash;11 pp. 9&ndash;11.</ref><ref>M. Lynch, ''Scotland: A New History'' (Random House, 2011), ISBN 1446475638, p. 80.</ref> by which he introduced a system of [[feudalism|feudal]] land tenure, established the first [[royal burgh]]s in Scotland, the first recorded Scottish coinage and continued a process of religious and legal reforms.<ref name=Webster1997pp29-37>B. Webster, ''Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity'' (St. Martin's Press, 1997), ISBN 0333567617, pp. 29-37.</ref> Until the thirteenth century the borders with England were very fluid, with Northumbria being annexed to Scotland by David I, but lost under his grandson and successor [[Malcolm IV of Scotland|Malcolm IV]] in 1157.<ref>R. R. Davies, ''The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles, 1093-1343'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), ISBN 0198208499, p. 64.</ref> The [[Treaty of York]] (1237) fixed the boundaries with England close to the modern border.<ref>W. P. L. Thomson, ''The New History of Orkney'' (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008), ISBN 184158696X, p. 204.</ref> By the reign of [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]], the Scots were in a position to annex the remainder of the western seaboard, which they did following the stalemate of the [[Battle of Largs]] with the [[Treaty of Perth]] in 1266.<ref name=Macquarrie2004p153>A. Macquarrie, ''Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation'' (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), ISBN 0-7509-2977-4, p. 153.</ref> The [[Isle of Man]] fell under English control in the fourteenth century, despite several attempts to restore Scottish authority.<ref>A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, eds, ''Uniting the Kingdom?: the Making of British History'' (London: Routledge, 1995), ISBN 0415130417, p. 101.</ref> The English were able to occupy most of Scotland under [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] and annex a large slice of the Lowlands under [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], but Scotland established its independence under figures including [[William Wallace]] in the late thirteenth century and [[Robert I of Scotland|Robert Bruce]] and his successors in the fourteenth century in the [[Wars of Scottish Independence|Wars of Independence]] (1296-1357). This was helped by cooperation with the kings of France, under the terms of what became known as the [[Auld Alliance]], which provided for mutual aid against the English. In the fifteenth century and early sixteenth century under the [[Stewart Dynasty]], despite a turbulent political history, the crown gained greater political control at the expense of independent lords and regained most of its lost territory to approximately the modern borders of the country.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006p21>P. J. Bawcutt and J. H. Williams, ''A Companion to Medieval Scottish Poetry'' (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), ISBN 1843840960, pp. 21.</ref> The dowry of the Orkney and Shetland Islands in 1468 was the last great land acquisition for the kingdom.<ref name="J. Wormald, 1991 p. 5">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470-1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN 0748602763, p. 5.</ref> However, in 1482 Berwick, a border fortress and the largest port in Medieval Scotland, fell to the English once again, for what was to be the final change of hands.<ref name=Bawcutt&Williams2006p21/> The Auld Alliance with France led to the heavy defeat of a Scottish army at the [[Battle of Flodden Field]] in 1513 and the death of the king [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]], which would be followed by a long period of political instability.<ref name="G. Menzies 2002 p. 179">G. Menzies ''The Scottish Nation'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), ISBN 190293038X, p. 179.</ref>