state of the country or of the habits of the people are extremely misty, and are chiefly drawn from incidental notices of Scottish matters in the chronicles of other lands. The chief architectural fragments which remain to bear witness to its Christianity are the round bell-towers in the Irish style at Brechin and at Abernethy. The church at Brechin was founded by Kenneth the Third.

22. Summary.—The most noteworthy events in this the first period of Scottish history are the repulses which the Romans met with from the Picts; the coming of the Scots from Ireland; their union with the Picts under Kenneth MacAlpin; the introduction of Christianity by Columba; the conversion of the Picts and of the English, and the joining on of Strathclyde and Lothian to the Scottish Crown. We must also notice the strong feeling of hereditary right which kept the succession for so long in one family, and the remarkable revolution brought about by the English exiles, which completely turned the current of the national life, and led to much strife and bitterness between the two races of which the nation was made up.

CHAPTER II.

THE ENGLISH PERIOD.

Eadgar; invasion of Magnus (1)—English marriage (2)—Alexander I.; rising in Moray (3)—Church reforms (4)—David I. (5)—English war (6)—Battle of the Standard (7)—peace with England (8)—internal improvements (9)—Malcolm IV. (10)—subjection of Galloway (11)—William the Lion (12)—Convention of Falaise (13)—homage at Lincoln (14)—independence of the Church (15)—internal troubles (16)—social progress (17)—Alexander II. (18)—settling of the border line (19)—state of the North (20)—Alexander III. (21)—his marriage and homage to England (22)—last invasion of the Northmen (23)—literature and architecture (24)—state of the kingdom (25).

1. Eadgar, 1097-1107. Invasion of Magnus.—In the beginning of this reign, Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, made good his right to the Orkneys and the Scandinavian Earldom on the mainland. He seized the two earls, and placed his own son Sigurd in their stead. He then sailed for the Sudereys, at that time dependencies of the Kingdom of Man, wasted them with fire and sword, marked his claim by sailing round each island, and, by way of proving his right to Kintyre, is said to have had himself dragged across the isthmus that joins it to the mainland in his ship, with his hand on the tiller. On his death the islands fell back into the hands of the former owners, and their descendants, the Lords of the Isles, were afterwards wont to declare themselves vassals of Norway, whenever it suited their convenience. In one respect only did this expedition differ from the former piratical descents of the Northmen. This time the sacred island of Iona was respected, and the church, so lately rebuilt, was left uninjured by the special order of the King.

2. English Marriage.—The friendly relations with England were maintained and strengthened by the marriage of Eadgar's sister Eadgyth, who took the name of Matilda, with Henry the First, the youngest son of William the Conqueror. She proved nearly as great a blessing to the English as her English mother had been to the Scots, for she taught the King to "love his folk," and was affectionately remembered by them as "Maud the good Queen." On his death-bed Eadgar separated Strathclyde from the rest of the kingdom, and conferred it on his brother David as a return for the wise counsel with which that brother had helped him through his very uneventful reign.

3. Alexander I., 1107-1124. Northern Rising.—This King, unlike his easy-tempered brother, had a strong will and unyielding spirit. His reign was consequently a troubled one, as always happened when the Scots King tried to rule instead of being ruled by his turbulent subjects. His first difficulties were of course in the north. The men of Merne and Moray came forth secretly and swiftly, hoping to surprise and murder him; but their tactics, which had proved fatal to Duncan, were upset by Alexander's discovery of the plot and rapid march to meet them. They were thus forced to fight, and thoroughly beaten on the northern shore of the Moray Firth, and the signal vengeance taken by the King after his victory, won for him the title of "the Fierce." To commemorate his success he founded the monastery of Scone.

4. Church Reforms.—Alexander deserves to be remembered for the spirit and wisdom with which he upheld the independence of the national church. Anxious to carry out in the same spirit the reforms already begun by his mother, he appointed her confessor Turgot, Prior of Durham, to the See of St. Andrews, and asked the Archbishop of York to consecrate him. The Archbishop on this claimed the canonical obedience of all the Scottish bishops, declaring that the whole country was in his province. This demand was clearly unjust; for, though Lothian was undoubtedly so, the Scottish Church was older than his own, and had never been dependent on any foreign See. This difficulty was got over by the consecration of the new bishop by the Bishop of London, and Turgot was installed as head of the Church from which his own priory of Durham had originally branched off. Instead of identifying himself with the interests of his new charge, he did all he could to bring the Scottish Church under the authority of the Archbishop of York, so that he and the King soon quarrelled; and as the King refused to let the Bishop go to Rome to lay his case before the Pope, he resigned, and went back to Durham, where he shortly afterwards died. To evade the claims of York, the King resolved that his next bishop should be chosen from the southern province. Eadmer, a monk of Canterbury, the friend and biographer of Anselm the Archbishop, accepted the bishopric. But he proved no better than Turgot, for he persisted in considering himself and his bishopric as dependent on Canterbury; and as the King would on no account agree to this, he too resigned and went away. Though he afterwards repented, and proposed to return, it was then too late, for Robert, Prior of Scone, had been appointed in his stead. As Alexander left no children, his brother David succeeded him, so that Strathclyde or Cumbria was re-united to the kingdom.

5. David I., 1124-1153. Rising in Moray.—The usual rising in Moray took place in the early part of this reign. The Moray men seized the opportunity for revolt afforded them by David's absence in England, whither he had gone on some business connected with the Honour of Huntingdon, an English fief which he had got by his marriage with Matilda, daughter and heiress of Waltheof, Earl of Northhumberland, who had been put to death by William the Conqueror. Angus and Malcolm, the representatives of the old Moray Mormaers, were descended in the female line from Lulach, the son of Gruach, and the northern party wished to place one of them on the throne. The Constable of the kingdom, the first on record, defeated them; but as the rebellion still continued, David in alarm asked and obtained the aid of the barons of the north of England. He was