History of Scotland - Documentary

caledonia that was what the Romans called it to them it was a wild mysterious land on the frontiers of their empire and of the known world here they believed of the tall red-haired barbarian people had strange customs could wield magic and lived among all manner of superstitious beasts never where the Romans ever able to tame this land nor its people and as the centuries passed nor could any other form people truly subjugate the spirit of Scotland Scotland is a nation with a proud fascinating at times mind boggling and ancient history with traditions and culture passed down through generations which stand out among the nations of the world thousands of years of history are found here from the ancient pics whose unique culture remains largely mysterious to us to the proud medieval kings and warriors whose struggles remain legendary to Scotland's role in helping found the greatest empire the world has ever seen and the fascinating tales in between despite its relatively small geographic size Scotland's impact on world history has been great however that history is often misunderstood Scottish history has been portrayed and a number of popular works such as literature plays movies and that sort of thing but these depictions are not always accurate what is the real Scotland who are the real Scots and what is their story hello and welcome to fire of learning I'm Justin the scottish story is one which deserves to be told thank you for joining us as we now tell it making Scotland the eighth nation in our history of Nations and people's documentary series whose history we have fully covered before we begin I would like to thank you who cept lopes never use begs da murray 469 Frank Mardis Denny Underwood Matt Moreland snikt and 0 for being our most recent supporters on patreon they join these supporters who make these videos possible one of the first times anyone ever wrote about the land that we today call Scotland was in the fourth century BC the author was the fascinating Greek explorer pytheas of Masoli a-- who seems to have traveled around britain and ireland it is not known how much pytheas interacted with the natives but if he had he would have encountered members of a culture already thousands of years old structures like this one the ring of brodgar on Orkney littered the isles their purpose isn't always clear but they likely held great religious significance to the people of this land who is pagan religion was greatly intertwined with the natural world further light is shed on the culture and lifestyle of these peoples when the Romans first invaded Britain in 55 BC under Julius Caesar though his conquests were limited and certainly did not reach Scotland the Romans never lost interest however and a true invasion of Britain occurred in 43 ad under the Emperor Claudius their conquests encompassing territory of modern England Wales became Roman Britain it would not be long until the Romans sought to control the whole of the island in 77 AD the Roman general Nyhus Julius Agricola tried precisely that as he expanded further into modern England and into modern-day Scotland he encountered tribes much like those in the south but according to some accounts people who were taller and more commonly had red hair much remains unknown about them and of what we do know much comes from the Romans who most certainly rode with a bias they were Celts who lived in hill forts farmed and herded animals they were not United and a number of tribes existed throughout the area the Caledonia for example for which the area was named by the Romans was only one of these groups they spoke varieties of a now extinct form of a Celtic language which would have been somewhat more like Welsh than modern-day Scottish Gaelic they followed a religion similar to the rest of the Celtic world which as mentioned was deeply entwined with nature and the gods spirits and beings which directed an habited it Roman general Agricola saw number of successes here and occupied part of Caledonia but overall the Romans never could hold on to the territory each time they tried they ended up relinquishing it the territory failed to pay for itself it was quite far from the Roman heartland and the natives proved to be too resilient to occupy accordingly the Romans walled Caledonia off they built two walls actually in 122 AD the less expensive Emperor Hadrian built Hadrian's Wall the Antonine wall was built in 142 AD to accommodate for the conquest though they didn't last and by the early third century Hadrian's Wall came to represent the true boundary between the Romans and the Caledonians the Roman invasion encouraged the Celts of Caledonia to cooperate with each other further one confederation which formed was a group of tribes which came to be known as the pigs first described in a third century as a people from the north the term was an egg's onnum coming from the Romans from pic T meaning the painted people for much of the 3rd century the wall seems to have kept the northern people at bay but in the 4th and 5th centuries the situation in Roman Britain began to change as the Roman Empire started buckling under the weight of larger issues erupting at home taking advantage of the Empire's weakness raiding parties from Caledonia breached the walls terrorizing the inhabitants of Roman Britain the Romans were too distracted to form a proper response in a territory so far from Italy by 410 AD years before the Western Roman Empire as a whole collapsed the Romans left Britain leaving the island including Scotland to a new future four groups would become key to Scotland's future the first were the after mentioned picks natives of the area second were the Britons celtic remnants of Roman Britain active in the south of Scotland namely what would become the kingdom of Strathclyde another example would be the Welsh third were the Germanic groups which crossed into Britain following the fall of Rome the anglo-saxons with specific reference to the angles who founded the of burne YCJA encompassing part of the southeast of Scotland Burnie she later became Northumbria or the kingdom north of the river Humber forth were the scottie the Scots the people who as you might guess gave Scotland its name however what one might not expect is that the scottie regales from Ireland who is Kingdom Dahl Rita extended from Ireland into Argyll modern Scotland the term Scotty was another Roman exonym possibly used to refer to Gaelic pirate Raiders specifically why Scotland is today called Scotland not pic hland well we shall see these four groups would turn the island of Britain as a whole into a patchwork of kingdoms and countries whose borders fluctuated frequently from Wars and disorder amid this period of chaos and uncertainty in the 5th 6th and 7th centuries people turned to a new light which was sweeping the Isles and would soon reach Scotland Christianity Christianity had been firmly established in the Roman Empire by the time of its collapse including in Roman Britain but the Celts outside its borders remained pagan the new religion would slowly trickle into these places before and after the Empire's collapse but the work of missionaries would firmly rooted in the cultures of the peoples inhabiting modern Scotland missionaries from Ireland such as the famous Saint Columba are said to have been key in converting their Pictish neighbours unfortunately though we can only make educated guesses about how exactly this and many other contemporary events unfolded written records of early medieval events names of leaders exact locations of borders and things like that are scarce with many key stories and events no doubt being left unrecorded or written with a bias this is especially the case for Scotland as time passed all the inhabitants of pic 'land became known as pigs one of their primary kingdoms among many was known as for trio which achieved considerable dominance over pic 'land also called picked a via the king of for true you may have functioned as a kind of high king over all the others sort of like what was going on in Ireland there were other Kings which acted independently at times fighting each other but each of them paid a kind of homage to the High King the pics would Ally trade fight and be influenced by their neighboring states over this time period as well over time in fact foreign influence would become so great that the Pictish tradition culture and language was largely lost the three languages spoken today in Scotland are derived from the gales viscous Gaelic and the anglo-saxons for English and Scots to complicate this arena of competing and scattered peoples further came a new contestant in the late eighth century invaders from Scandinavia who would change everything and leave a permanent mark on Scotland Vikings the Viking Age is said to have begun in 793 AD with an attack on Lindisfarne an undefended and wealthy monastery part of the nearby anglo-saxon kingdom of Northumbria the Vikings were pagans who had no qualms about attacking holy areas that no Christian would ever dare as unchallenged masters of the sea that could appear anywhere at any time bad news for an island they came first to raid but driven by a variety of factors in their homeland of Norway Denmark and Sweden perhaps such as overpopulation they would later come to settle seeking land on which to do so many of them would go to England but some primarily Norwegians would also seek their fortunes in Scotland the initial moment of contact between the first of the Viking raiders and the people of Scotland is not known again the lack of literacy and reliable records means that there isn't a clear chain of events with clear causality one possible point contact was the sack of the monastery at Iona in 795 ad it would be the first of multiple raids on the island here the monks and all inhabitants were killed not long after it seems with this new invader on the scene the inhabitants of modern Scotland set aside their differences to resist them the king of Dahl Rita aide met bon'te and the king of the picks who and Mechelen goose' are said to have taken a stand against them in 839 in an unnamed battle but were defeated and both died fighting Scotland was taking a very hard hit in such tumultuous times as these arose a man who would be called the founder of Scotland his name was Canadian or Kenneth MacAlpin Kenneth MacAlpin possibly had become king of the gales around 834 ad however his origins remain a matter of debate by either means of invasion or negotiation perhaps a bit of both under Kenneth MacAlpin dál Riata unpick lund merged to create the Kingdom of Alba from an old Latin word for the island this unification is often seen as the beginning of Scotland however that name as well as the name Alba was not yet used and Kenneth the first refer to himself as king of the Picts he was crowned in a city more the size of a town called Scoon Scoon would become the traditional location for coronation of Scottish Kings and would come to serve as a kind of capital of Alba although Kings for much of early Scottish history travelled frequently not doing much settling down McAlpin is said to have brought a holy relic and a stone to Scoon a stone which remains famous to this day it is known as the Stone of Scone or gall so the Stone of Destiny it's important to remember Kenneth was high king over many other Kings a bit like Bryan Burrough if you've watched my Ireland documentary he was not the sole King and Alba was not perfectly unified it is not known whether dál Riata or pig hland pushed for this union but it was likely an inevitability that was expedited by the threat posed by the invading Norseman following this union Gaelic culture began to predominate though the kingdom's center of power lay in pig land north of what's called the Firth of Forth which was in this area here scots gaelic became the language of alba and Gaelic culture slowly replaced the old Pictish one kenneth the first would not expel the vikings from scotland but he would provide the basis for the nation that would one day do so in this time the area of daria in rugged West of Scotland which was easier to access by sea than by land was heavily taken over by Vikings the Kingdom of Alba subsequently existed primarily in the East Kenneth the first died in 858 and was succeeded by his brother Don the first who reigned for four years in 862 he was succeeded by Kenneth's son Constantine who reigned until 877 Albus situation was precarious in the north and west the Vikings settled the islands of Hobart EES Shetland Orkney the Isle of Man multiple parts of Ireland and the portion of the mainland here the intermarriage of Scots and Norris was quite likely to have happened in many areas but in others DNA evidence suggests an intentional removal of the native populations in the south in England the Danelaw came into existence partially as a result of the conquests of the semi-legendary Viking leader Ragnar lothbrok sons and of course to the east across the sea lay Scandinavia herself Alba therefore was surrounded Vikings began increasing their attacks on Alba itself amid this activity and King Constantine met them in battle it did not go well however at the Battle of dollar and 875 it is said a great many picks were slaughtered in a crushing defeat King Constantine died in or after another battle in each 77 meanwhile in England a great king by the name of Alfred was resisting Viking incursion as well and having more luck in 878 at the Battle of Eddington the Danes under guthe room were defeated and a treaty was signed between them bringing a kind of temporary peace between them the first time the phrase a king of Alba was used was around 900 AD following the death of King Donald a second his reign which began in 889 was spent of course fighting Norseman it is recorded of the Scots scored a major victory over the north in in his sub solium but donald ii likely died later fighting in unknown enemy potentially the Vikings at the Battle of Donald har he was succeeded by his son Khan the second among all the early kings of Scotland Constantine the second is perhaps the most well remembered and for good reason the 10th century would consist of Europe beginning to forge a more proper resistance to the Norseman Scotland was no exception in 904 the victory is recorded to have been won over the Vikings which saw the death of a hibernal Viking that is to say Norris Irish King Amara Ivar in 906 King Constantine swore to uphold his duties as king in Scoon because of the power constantine ii was securing through his victory and as the first living king to be called king of Elba some have considered this point to be the birth of Scotland as his power grew Constantine likely secured some sort of agreement B as an alliance or placement of a puppet king with Strathclyde against the Vikings fighting would continue against the Norseman throughout Constantine's reign gradually however the north suffered a series of defeats the 10th century was a poor one for them throughout the Isles power shifted and the table's turned Athelstan grandson of out for the great became the first King not merely of the anglo-saxons but of the English in 9:27 having defeated the Norseman the power of Wessex now spread across much of England all the way up to the border of Alba posing a new threat to the island in the face of this alliance has changed Alba and Strathclyde and now saw to challenge this new rising power with Viking help specifically the Vikings of Dublin in 934 war broke out between the early kingdoms of Scotland and England which saw in English victory constantine pledged obedience to the English king thereafter this obedience would not be lasting however war would come again sometime in 937 in a location lost to history Scottish forces allied with those of Strathclyde and Viking Dublin took a stand against English domination at the Battle of brunnen Berg the battle one of the bought on the island to that point was a defeat for the Allied two news however because of the after-effects it was not decisive and the war ended more or less in a drop if England had lost about it would have certainly broken up their kingdom however even with a victory the battle had shaken English power to the point at which Athelstan could not force the submission of his neighbors it would be some time before England dared to invade the north again and four years later England itself ruptured again following Ethel Stan's death Alba now also called Albania and in some circumstances Scotia land of the Scots for the time being was saved constantine ii who had brought the security to his homeland in his 43 year long reign which was quite an exceptional length for the early Middle Ages abdicated in his old age to become a monk in 943 and the throne thus passed to his cousin Malcolm the first that year the Viking Age would continue in Scotland for some time and Malcolm seems to have died in battle against them in 954 like so many of his predecessors he was succeeded by Constantine son indle the Scottish Kings of the early Middle Ages came to the throne by a process called Tanis tree the system was Gaelic and had replaced the earlier systems of the Picts atenist was an heir apparent to a king or chief but also applied to landowners in general across the country as well the key difference is that this heir apparent was often elected by the heads of a family and chosen from any of the members of the patrilineal line who were of age and in a fit state of body and mind so the tannest could be a son but also a brother cousin grandson uncle nephew whomever was deemed the best choice as long as he was related to the king on his dad's side he would replace the king when he died or in some circumstances if the king was disqualified women were borrowed from succession as was matrilineal succession though the earlier picks interestingly seemed to have practiced naturally succession when the new king came to the throne the next tannest was elected it isn't radically different from primogeniture the process which most kings later on used but it was different enough to stand out this system caused regular infighting and competition though that's not to say that the other kingdoms of Europe were much more stable the early Scottish monarchs are well known for their infighting and internee sign struggles which shortened their life expectancies many died in combat even after the Vikings became less of a threat in the late 10th century as a result of this competition and in fact most died in battle in general in both life he died in combat against the Vikings King dove : Kenneth ii Constantine the 3rd and Kenneth the 3rd breach killed either in civil wars or in wars against foreigners on March 25th 1005 king malcolm ii came to throne after defeating kenneth a third under him Scotland's borders would further solidify he might have placed his grandson Duncan on the throne of Strathclyde and around the Year 1018 fought the battle Karam against England which he won securing a Scottish territory north of the 4th up tweet his unusually long reign which ended in 1034 was followed by Duncan the first his affer mentioned grandson Duncan was not a popular king and his reign was short he died in combat against his own vassal who challenged his rule the more mayor of Moray a man named Macbeth had mcfinn Lee better known as well it's not a theater so I'll go ahead and said Macbeth if the video crashes later I guess I'll know why Macbeth is a well-known character from Shakespeare but the real Macbeth was a much different person involved in different circumstances Duncan was not murdered he was a young man killed in battle by another with a fairly legitimate claim to the throne based off of the system of the time Macbeth's rain seems to have been one of relative peace and stability as he reigned for seventeen years and was so secure in his reign that he was even able to travel to Rome on pilgrimage it was not totally peaceful however in 1054 a brief war with England destabilized his rule this destabilization allowed arrival the son of Duncan the first Malcolm to challenge him at the Battle of limpin in 10:57 here Macbeth was killed and Malcolm the third came to the throne a year later and so with yet another King it killed by his successor and McAlpin's had returned to power as the High Kings in another domestic conflict of which we unfortunately know little however things would soon be changing not simply for Scotland but for all of Britain and Ireland historians place Malcolm the third as the 1st of the house of dunkeld though others begin this dynasty with Duncan the first his father Malcolm the thirds English contemporary was a ruler named Edward the Confessor Malcolm most likely knew him quite well likely staying in his court during most of the reign of Macbeth Edward the Confessor was a weak King who had poor the end of his life found himself in a precarious little situation he had promised succession to his throne to multiple different people one of those people was William Duke of Normandy a French Duchy settled by Norseman throughout the past century and a half in the north of France ostensibly under the French crown but in reality in independent Duchy when Edward died in January of 1066 William expected the crown to go to him but it instead went to another anglo-saxon Harold Godwinson this was unacceptable william planned to invade England but he was not alone the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada invaded first Scotland and Norway actually planned to seize English territory together Malcolm the third would later be called Canmore meaning great leader had a number of territorial ambitions in England primarily in Northumbria when the Norwegian invasion came however he did not involve himself hard rodham netted the anglo-saxons at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September 1066 here the anglo-saxon were victorious as hard Radha was killed with an arrow to the throat as hard Radha lay dead the battle came to be considered the last conflict of the Viking Age perhaps in a sense but the Norse were still active in the British Isles especially in Scotland where they still controlled the size of a portion of the modern nation and would for centuries to come soon after William of Normandy reached England and at the Battle of Hastings not even a month after Stamford Bridge William the Conqueror defeated Godwinson claiming a title of King for himself Godwinson was the last anglo-saxon King to rule England the french-speaking Normans were now in charge and their ambitions their conquest would not be limited to England alone all the while cultural influences from England and from France were making their way into Scotland as a result feudalism for exemple a much more solidly hierarchical system with the King on top of a series of vassals and Lords was becoming encouraged by figures including Malcolm the 3rd this challenged the traditional Gaelic structure of society but many Scots felt that certain changes to their society might be necessary Scotland was beginning to look beyond its immediate frontiers to different horizons than eastward anxiously at Scandinavia and south of England it was about to be involved in broader European politics Malcolm the 3rd Canmore originally hoping to seize territory from the anglo-saxons now empathized with them and took sects and refugees into his kingdom while conducting raids on the now norman territory among the refugees was an exceptionally pious anglo-saxon Princess Margaret of Wessex sister of the exiled anglo-saxon heir to Godwinson who became his second wife in 1070 in 1070 - following their harrying of the north as the Normans had solidified rule in England William marched an army up to Scotland with this Malcolm the third paid homage to him recognising his rule this like many equivalent examples in the past was a temporary and disingenuous measure by the Scots peace and time Malcolm was intent on expansion into Northumbria regardless of who owned it and war came on and off throughout the rest of his reign against William the first and a second like nearly every Scottish king of the era Malcolm the third and his son died in battle at Olmec in November of 1093 while fighting the Normans in Northumbria he would not succeed in annexing Northumbria but had regained control of Strathclyde sometime in e10 70s ownership of which fluctuated Margaret who would later be canonized as a saint died only days later their rule had a major impact on modernizing and strengthening Scotland Malcolm was not able to conquer England but the Normans found themselves unable to truly conquer Scotland for Margaret's part her piety and charity were well known and she led religious reform which brought the Scottish church more in line with Rome Anglo continental influence is seen in the names given to Malcolm's children by Margaret Edgar Alexander David Matilda and Mary the anglo-norman language began to arrive in Scotland as well under his Dunkeld successors this influence would only grow malcolm was succeeded by his brother donald the third the white donald was very possibly not his brother's intended heir and may have usurped the throne regardless a dynastic struggle erupted as he his sons by his first wife and sons by his second wife each sought to sit upon it in May of 1090 for Duncan Malcolm a third son by his first wife invaded with Norman support and seized power however by November an uprising had occurred again stuck in a second and his foreign supporters led by the old Celtic Lords who held particular disdain for foreign influence which led to his death and Donald was King again by November this did not last long Margaret's son Edgar claimed the throne in 1097 once again with English support Edgar rain until 1107 and was succeeded by his brother Alexander however Edgar chose to divide the kingdom between Alexander their brother David David was chosen to rule a restricted also known as Cumbria the three brothers were notably religious much like their mother Alexander - however much like his father had a liking for combat he became known as the fierce after victory in a battle against an unknown enemy potentially the norwegians of the Northern Isles he died in 1124 and the realm was reunited under David the first the reigns of David's two brothers were comparatively uneventful and like many Scottish rulers a fair share of the details have been lost to history however the reign of King David the first is well remembered and some would go so far as to call him one of Scotland's greatest kings David already facing rebellions began with a complicated coronation ceremony he very much normalized having even married a Norman woman at 11:12 viewed the ceremony as pagan indeed aspects of it might have dated back to the ancient Caledonians however he endured it and scone significance remained still David's reign would contain major milestones in the transition from a Celtic society to a more anglo-norman one as far as the rebellions he faced went he was able to suppress them by 1134 with Norman assistance and maintain his reign this period followed with a series of major governmental reforms he was careful not to provoke the old Celtic Lords of his kingdom but created feudal offices and structures similar to those in England and France where he code this new bureaucracy was coupled with the foundation of what are called boroughs be you are gah fifteen or sixteen of them in fact were founded during his reign and that was only the beginning Berwick Roxburgh Stirling Edinburgh Perth Aberdeen this moment in Scottish history was undeniably a bura moment the boroughs were novel settlements with officially established borders and royally granted commercial privileges different from the old settlements which typically consisted of villages surrounding monasteries most of them would be in the east in settlements which likely already existed in these Scottish lowlands but David sought to control the Highland as well Scottish influence extended further into the west and north during David's reign as well though the Norwegian rulers they're largely independent of the Norwegian King would resist his efforts to encroach on their territory the borough's would serve as centers of production and commerce with many special trading privileges granted by the king in royal charters because many of them were founded in southeast territory which once belonged to the English Saxons middle English became a common language used throughout the boroughs and trade interaction and immigration from England and France only increased this linguistic influence anglo-norman and French Knights and David's service were given important Lordships and land as well David wood also found monasteries across the kingdom and bring the church closer to Rome though anticipated by recent monarchs King David's reforms were so impactful on Scotland that his 29 year reign is sometimes referred to as the Davidian revolution Scotland was changing David's relations with England were relatively stable having spent time in the Norman Court the English viewed David as the civilised king of a barbarian land he seems to have got along with King Henry the first and swore fealty to Henry's heir the problem was Henry the first succession was not exactly a simple process a civil war known as the anarchy erupted in England between 1135 and 1153 between Matilda Henry's daughter and Stephen of Blois his nephew amid this crisis with David considering himself free from the oath he invaded England in 11:36 he agreed to a temporary peace but resumed conflict in 1138 on Matilda's behalf or so he claimed capturing much of Northumbria this invasion is said to have been exceptionally brutal with much of the English countryside being ravaged on August 22nd of that year the English met the Scottish at the Battle of the standard where the English inflicted a major defeat on the Scottish army the Scots were said to have had about 20,000 men press and lost about 11,000 despite this David's forces remained strong and in 1139 a treaty was signed which was in favor of David's ambitions granting the Scots northern territories in part of Northumbria and Carlisle in 1153 a peace treaty was signed between the two factions of the anarchy Matilda's son Henry of Anjou was named heir to the aging King Stephen as it happened Stephen died the following year Henry of Anjou subsequently became king of not only England but ruler of a large portion of France as well including Normandy Anjou and Aquitaine this massive Dominion which would later expand into places like Brittany and part of Ireland is referred to by historians as the AL Javon Empire David had died in May of 1153 in a succession of primogeniture as his son had died the year before him he was succeeded by his grandson the 12 year old Malcolm the fourth Malcolm the fourth reign was troubled he was faced with foreign rivals in the West under the North's king of Argyll summer led in the southwest with Fergus Lord of Galloway and in the South by the expansionist English King Henry the second land was lost to England and Malcolm swore fealty to the king but his battles against Fergus and summer led ended in victory malcolm was sickly throughout his reign and died in 1165 at the age of 24 the throne then passed to his brother William William was much more well received than his sickly brother posthumously earning a title on Lovan the lion after his standard which bore a red lion on a yellow flag this standard would later evolve into Scotland's royal standard William was a capable leader in many areas but his wars with England waged throughout his long reign were disastrous in 1174 while campaigning in England he and his 60 or so bodyguards were discovered by a forest of a few hundred Englishmen who stumbled upon his camp his army was split up and occupied in other areas so he and his bodyguards were alone William decided to engage this English force with his bodyguards upon charging shouted now we shall see which one of us are good Knights this battle of on WIC in July of 1174 was over very quickly Williams foolish decision to stand and fight led to his capture he was taken to a dungeon all the way in Normandy to prevent his recapture the English then occupied part of Scotland in exchange for his release and the Treaty of Falaise William the lion was forced to pay a ransom and swear obedience to King Henry ii a man becoming emperor in all but name scotland had been subordinated to england this was a humiliating outcome and led to discontent against him but just as it seemed that Scotland was going to become another owns event territory luck struck the kingdom when Henry the second died in 1199 Henry's son Richard also referred to as a lion or Lionheart succeeded him Richard the Lionheart interests were more in distant lands to take part in a crusade but he lacked the funds to do so to solve this issue he turned to the Scottish King the two lions struck a deal and England rescinded the Treaty of Falaise in exchange for 10,000 silver mercs that year the Scots effectively purchased their independence relations did not necessarily improve with England however and soured even more when King John came to the English throne when his brother Richard died in battle war broke out again as John was threatened by Williams consideration of an alliance with England's other enemy the French John again received submission from William William died not long after in 1214 his reign had achieved a number of domestic accomplishments and he was Scotland's longest reigning ruler up to that point but his foreign relations were a disaster the throne went to his son Alexander the second that year in line with what might as well have been a coronation tradition a rebellion broke out in his first year of rule which was suppressed by the king and his forces once again Scotland found the way to get his self out of submission to England this occurred during the Barons revolt in 1215 which occurred against King John Irving as war broke out Alexander led an army into England marching all the way to Dover in the south of England it failed to win much territory but achieved its intended result of securing a degree of freedom King John died in 1216 and was succeeded by Henry the third Alexander the second of Scotland and Henry the third of England saw to end their hostilities this certainly was not achieved for long but in the Treaty of York in 1237 significant progress was made and how these two nations would deal with each other an official border was agreed to this border stretched from the solway firth to the mouth of the River Tweed it remains much like this to this day during the reign of alexander ii a group of advisers and nobility especially those from the borough's had been coming together to meet to discuss important issues and influence decision-making these assemblies would later evolved into the scottish parliament with the southern border stable for the time being the scottish kings then turned their eyes northward the Norwegians had occupied much of the highlands and especially the surrounding islands for around four centuries by this time it was time for them to leave alexander attempted to purchase the islands from the Norwegians but his offers were repeatedly declined thus in 1249 he mounted an expedition to seize Argyll and Hobart ease in the West he achieved much in Argyll however while on the way to the Hebrides aged 50 he died of a fever the fight was to be continued by his son Alexander the third who at that time was only seven thus the fight would have to wait Alexander gained control of the government in 1260 two years later he resumed his father's conflict against the Norwegians King Hawk in the fourth of Norway raced to meet him doing so in the west of mainland Scotland here on October 2nd 1263 a force of Scottish warriors took a group of Norwegians by surprise at the Battle of marks it was not a brutal battle both sides losing less than a thousand men but the battle went down in history as the mum and that the Scots repelled the Norwegians King Haakon were treated to Orkney were by chance he fell ill and died in December of that year causing his forces to return to Norway Alexander and his forces used the opportunity to press into areas such as the island sky in 1266 the new king of Norway Magnus the fourth agreed to negotiate and finally sold the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to Scotland Scotland now began to assume control over much of its north and west taking on more of its modern shape however the islands of orkney and shetland were to remain Norwegian Alexander the second and third with their treaties of York and Perth are accordingly well remembered in Scottish history as Kings who brought about an age of expansion and then a peace taking crucial steps toward making Scotland what it is today some have considered this a golden age in Scottish history but was it or that it simply seemed that way compared to what was coming Alexander the 3rd had three children including two his sons by his wife Margaret however his wife and all three of his children died within a few years of each other during his lifetime in 1284 Alexander the third therefore was left with no heir he was only 44 however and married a second wife a woman in her early 20s and tried for another heir indeed she became pregnant then disaster struck again in March of 12 86 King Alexander fell off his horse while riding in the night to meet with his wife to celebrate her birthday the next day the king now needed an heir and all hope rested with his unborn child the child however was stillborn I promise this depressing little segment is important to the story and understanding just how bad Scotland's luck was anyway the sorrow visited upon the royal family would soon be visited upon Scotland as a succession dispute erupted with no clear air his only descendant was his three-year-old granddaughter by his first wife and daughter Margaret who had married the king of Norway the Scottish felt that they had no choice but to leave the crown to Margaret and set up a Council of Guardians a group of Regents to rule until she was able to assume the throne the guardians were also tasked with finding a husband for her who would be the real ruler the authority of the Guardians however was swiftly challenged by other claimants to the throne including Robert de Bruce 5th Lord of Annandale grandfather of Robert the Bruce and John Balio Lord of Galloway rebellion broke out while Margaret was still in Norway and though it was suppressed King Eric of Norway was reluctant to let her leave until the situation in Scotland was resolved the Scottish Norwegians and English then met to mediate the situation it was agreed that Margaret would be queen and would marry Edward king of England's son and heir who would be Edward the second then when she was on her way to Scotland at the age of seven she died of illness a new succession dispute then arose called the great cause which saw numerous claimants and threatened Civil War once again the Scottish Parliament asked for English assistance in mediating the situation that was a mistake the English King Edward the first the Longshanks was a very ambitious monarch during the negotiations he made his own demands on the Scots and required them to recognize him as their feudal overlord Scotland was in no position to resist and this would have been their outcome anyway had the union of Margaret and Edward the first son produced a son Scotland would be independent but subject to the English king next he influenced the Assembly to choose the affer mentioned at John Balliol to be King King John the first was crowned at Scoon in November of 1292 it quickly became clear he was to be a puppet King the situation soon became intolerable Edward demanded that the Scottish assist him in his war with France a fight in which the Scots saw no point in joining they denied his demands a violation of their agreement Scotland was now on a path to war with England in what is remembered as the first Scottish war of independence having invoked the wrath of the Longshanks the Scottish immediately sought the assistance of the only country that the English hated as much as them the French the Scots and French formed what would be known as the old alliance in 1296 the decision to become BFFs was a very sound strategy as any war that the English plan to fight against either of them would result in a two-front war on opposite ends of their Kingdom however for the time being it just made Edward even angrier and he moved to invade Scotland in 1296 he did so the Scottish and English met at the Battle of Dunbar in April it was a minor battle but led to the rapid and brutal English occupation of the Scottish lowlands not long after King John was captured forced to abdicate imprisoned and then exiled Edward who would later be known as malleus Scot autumn the hammer of the Scots had won a great victory in symbolism of his victory the Stone of Scone was taken and transported back to England where it remained for centuries the Scottish were occupied and had no king but was it to last they were far from broken by now a Scottish identity had been forged from the various ancient groups which had come together to create the kingdom they were not eager to have it erased in such times heroes tend to arise two of Scotland's most famous heroes in fact came onto the stage in his conflict the first was a man named William Wallace let me say now so that no one gets mixed up in the coming story the real William Wallace was not Mel Gibson Braveheart was a great movie but my friends do not take it as proper history it's more of a fiction which was only roughly based on history anyway Edward initially received the submission and support of many Scottish Nobles and families including the Bruce's however the burgesses rulers of the borough's still resisted in 1297 Edwards rule had quickly become intolerable and rebellions broke out across the country in the north rebellion led by Andrew d'amour a broke out in the south the son of a minor Scottish noble this William Wallace led a revolt after his wife was allegedly killed by a local English sheriff Wallace is recorded to have been a man of intimidating physique dubiously said to have been seven feet tall by poets over a century later importantly he also likely had military experience and knew what he was doing Marais and Wallace soon joined forces with much of northern Scotland under their control on the 11th of September 12 97 they met the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge here about six thousand Scots faced off against 9,000 Englishmen who had gathered and now had to slowly cross the narrow Stirling Bridge to relieve the city of Dundee the Scots waited for the right moment to strike allowing a portion of the English force to cross the bridge once a sizeable but partial force had crossed they pounced in the chaos the bridge was crowded with too many English soldiers trying to go both ways and it collapsed under them to drown taking minor losses the Scots killed around 5,000 Englishmen however one of the few Scottish casualties was Moray who would die of his wounds not long after Wallace was named guardian of the kingdom of Scotland he was not at all King but one of the Regents during the interregnum he then invaded England raiding much of the north the situation became so out of control that Edward the first left France to deal with the Scots directly in 1298 they met at the Battle of Falkirk here the Scottish were crushed by the English and Welsh longbowman and Wallace narrowly escaped he then resigned his guardian and disappeared in coming years likely travelling to France to encourage further French assistance he returned to Scotland in 1303 to continue the fight but was captured by the English and publicly executed with Wallace dead and the independence movement faltering Scotland would now require a new hero one king in the form of perhaps Scotland's most famous King Robert the Bruce Robert the Bruce now sought the Scottish throne but recall of course that he was not alone the prominent Scottish leader John come in the red also had a claim to it kommen had been a more ardent rebel in fact with Bruce having wavered between sides On February 10th 13:06 the two rivals met to discuss the situation in the gray friars church in Dumfries here Bruce lost his temper when he learned that komen had revealed Bruce's plans to be king to King Edward therefore Bruce stabbed coming in the neck killing a man in front of an altar god Robert the Bruce excommunicated by the Pope but at least he had eliminated his rifle on March 25th of that year he traveled to scone to be crowned King of Scotland despite some bumps the resistance was back on the Scots and English met at the Battle of Methven in June of 1306 where Bruce was defeated and forced to retreat he was also faced with conflict with former supporters of komen and was forced to take shelter in Rathlin Island the following year though Robert and his brother Edward returned to Scotland to resume the fight fortune struck them as Edward the first of England died that year he was succeeded by his son ever the second who was less interested in Scotland and faced quarrels at home over the coming years Robert slowly took Scotland back and even began raiding England on the 23rd of June 1314 edward ii army of 20,000 met Bruce's army of 7,500 at the Battle of Bannockburn here despite being outnumbered the Scottish crushed the English and forced Edward ii to fall back to england it was a great victory but the war was not over yet robert the bruce decided to keep pushing against the english sending his brother edward to ireland the year after to open up a second front against him Edward Bruce was crowned High King of Ireland the brothers intention was to create a Gaelic King encompassing Ireland and Scotland however as he found did not have much support in Ireland many Irish is cited with the English and Edward Bruce was killed at the Battle of Fogerty in 1318 the war continued on in the 1320 SLR Robert's excommunication was lifted in 1327 edward ii abdicated the following year in 1328 Scotland emerged victorious with Robert the Bruce recognised as King it was a great victory the Scots had won their freedom but what at last Robert the Bruce died the year after and was succeeded by his five-year-old son David ii thus a Regency was needed not long after the English supported an invasion of Scotland once again under the pretext of restoring a man they believed to be the rightful king Edward Valeo son of John Balliol to the Scottish throne this would beget another long fight between the two powers aptly named the second Scottish war of independence once more the English would occupy the southern portion of Scotland the English and Scots loyal to Balio soon secured victories david ii was forced to flee to France and Balio claimed the kingship those Scottish resistance continued preventing him from truly achieving it Balliol in fact was chased out of Scotland though he would make comebacks and brutal civil war and war with England was to continue evolving into a guerrilla war against the invaders much of Scotland was devastated in the fighting famine ensued in the chaos the English under Edward the third however would soon lead extracted in 1337 Edward the third was involved in an inheritance dispute he claimed to be the rightful king of France this dispute with France would lead to a dynastic struggle which would last for 116 years in a series of conflicts together called the Hundred Years War Scotland Frances Ally would play a role in these wars with England distracted the Scots regained much of their territory and even invade northern England in the coming years by 1341 the situation in Scotland was so stable that david ii now 17 returned to Scotland to lead the fight in 1346 a force of 12,000 men gathered under him to invade England which met an English force of 6,500 at the Battle of Neville's cross on October 17th of that year it was a major setback to the Scottish gains here they were defeated and king david ii himself was captured by the enemy and imprisoned in england now England once again held the upper hand over Scotland but fighting slowed as they focused more on France by 1357 England needed money to continue its war with France and decided to ransom the king back to discuss a deal was reached in the Treaty of Berwick and David the second returned to rural Scotland he had been in captivity for 11 years but was still only 33 years old the truth did not exactly bring about a period of happiness and stability Scotland had been ruined not only by the decades of war but the Black Plague which reached the country in the 1350s coming off a large portion of its population the debt which was owed the king's release around a hundred thousand silver mercs seems impossible to fully pay in these conditions indeed the terms were renegotiated the second Scottish War of Independence had ended Scotland though badly bloodied had retained its independence david ii died in 1371 and childless was succeeded by his nephew robert ii he was to be 1st of the House of Stuart the House of Stuart would play a pivotal role not only in Scottish history but English and British history not long after this time Scotland would climb out of the medieval and into the Rene sauce the beginning of the modern world Scotland would change and these changes would often bring with them challenges the rise of the clan system the Protestant Reformation strife and the kingdom of their southern neighbors then eventually the Scottish King James the sixth would be faced with a major opportunity to inherit the throne of England though only held in personal Union his inheritance would be the first step in creating a permanent union of Scotland and England which would give rise to a United Kingdom Scotland would be a part of the British Empire the greatest empire the world has ever seen but not before they gave a shot at their own colonial ambitions how would Scotland fare in this eventful time facing challenges such as the exploration and colonization of new worlds which saw scoffs travel from America to Asia the Enlightenment the 30 Years War the Seven Years War the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars alongside their new English partners furthermore were these Englishmen partners or were they rulers in the next video which will be titled something like Scotland's role in the British Empire we will look at Scottish history from the dawn of the Renaissance up through the series of events challenges and stories leading the modern world I hope you enjoyed this video if so I invite you to come check out the rest of fire burning and to subscribe to see more videos like this in the future to help with the cost of producing these videos that a nation on patreon would be a big help a special thanks to our current patrons once again listed here we are also on Instagram Facebook and Twitter so come check us out there too this has been a fire of learning history of Nations and people's documentary top alive for watching [Music] you

Channel: undefined

Views: 421,553

Rating: 4.8802786 out of 5

Keywords: Scotland, history, Alba, Kingdom of, Independence, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, David II, Vikings, Picts, Caledonia

Id: cful8_-kQbE

Length: 56min 52sec (3412 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 28 2020