Scotland from MacBeth to Braveheart

Episode 18 Scotland from MacBeth to Braveheart

The Celtic World

Dr Jennifer Paxton (2018)

Film Review

Prior to 900 AD, Scotland was a multilingual country, with Gaelic-speaking Celts in the Northwest, Celtic-speaking Picts in the Northeast, Germanic-speaking Angles in the Southeast, Britons in the Southwest and Scandinavians in the far North and western islands. In 900, all the Celtic speakers amalgamated to form the kingdom of Alba, which extended into the northern highlands. The Pictish language essentially died out as the Picts adopted a Gaelic identity. Alba also absorbed the Britons in southwest Scotland and essentially forced the Angles and Scandinavians out of the power structure.

MacBeth

MacBeth was a Celtic king of Scotland between 1040 and 1057, who would be stigmatized as a villain to discourage Scots from identifying as Gaelic. He was born in Moray, an autonomous region of Alba west of the Hebrides.

At the time the Scottish didn’t recognize primogeniture,* and royal succession created massive turmoil. The only qualifications required to inherit the Scottish throne was some blood relation to the dead king and competence to rule.

Duncan, MacBeth’s cousin, ruled Scotland for six years before MacBeth killed him (in battle)** following Duncan’s invasion of MacBeth’s territory. During MacBeth’s 17-year rule, he had a well-earned reputation for his care of the poor. He was ultimately dethroned in a battle with Duncan’s son Malcolm III. The latter grew up in Northumbria and received help from his uncle and the Northumbrian army.

The Formation of Norman and Breton Clans

Malcolm frequently sheltered prominent English exiles who had a big influence over his regime. One was Edgar Aethling. With a claim to the English throne after Edward the Confessor died in 1066, Aethling was exiled by Harold II (who was king briefly just prior to the Norman Conquest). Seeking allies in Scotland, Aethling married his sister to Malcolm, though King William (the Conqueror) eventually claimed sovereignty over Scotland and forced Malcolm to expel Aethling.

In 1100, William’s son Henry I married Malcolm’s daughter Edith (aka Mathilde). Her brother David, who served in Henry’s court, came to greatly admire Anglo-Norman society prior to his 30-year reign as king of Scotland.

He invited a number of Anglo-Norman knights to Scotland and granted them Scottish estates. These knights would go on to found important Scottish clans, including the Bruces (originally from Normandy) and the Stuarts (originally from Brittany). Before long the French and Scots languages became more prevalent than Gaelic. These Anglo-Norman nobles eventually pressured Malcolm to adopt primogeniture inheritance.

Braveheart and Robert Bruce Sr and Jr

When Malcolm’s direct heir Margaret died without children, the Scottish nobility called on the English king Edward I to mediate. He chose John Balliol instead of the more popular (and competent) Robert Bruce (of mixed Norman/Gaelic ancestry).

Edward eventually kidnapped John, who was very unpopular, along with the Scottish coronation stone, which he installed at Westminster Abbey. Sir William Wallace***(Braveheart in the film) successfully fought off English control over Scotland for nearly a decade. He was finally captured and executed in 1305.

In 1306, Robert Bruce’s grandson (of the same name) took over the Scottish resistance and defeated the English at the Battle of Banochbern in 1314. Following Bruce’s victory, Scotland successfully retained Scottish independence for three centuries.

In fact, it only came under British control by accident when Elizabeth I died without heirs and left the English monarch to her cousin James the VI, who assumed rule over Britain and Scotland as James I.

*Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent’s entire or main estate

**Shakespeare totally fabricated the myth that MacBeth murdered Duncan. Beginning in the late 14th century, MacBeth was reportrayed in popular Scottish literature as a usurper and tyrant rather than a helper of the poor.

**Wallace means “Welsh,” so Wallace was most likely descended from Scotland’s P-Celtic Britonic speakers.

Film may be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://pukeariki.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/5701024/5701060