A few industries did grow, such as chemicals and whisky, which developed a global market for premium "Scotch". [287] However, in general the Scottish economy stagnated leading to growing unemployment and political agitation among industrial workers. [272] Interwar politics [ edit ] When Alexander died in 1124, the crown passed to Margaret's fourth son David I, who had spent most of his life as a Norman French baron in England. His reign saw what has been characterised as a " Davidian Revolution", by which native institutions and personnel were replaced by English and French ones, underpinning the development of later Medieval Scotland. [68] [69] Members of the Anglo-Norman nobility took up places in the Scottish aristocracy and he introduced a system of feudal land tenure, which produced knight service, castles and an available body of heavily armed cavalry. He created an Anglo-Norman style of court, introduced the office of justicar to oversee justice, and local offices of sheriffs to administer localities. He established the first royal burghs in Scotland, granting rights to particular settlements, which led to the development of the first true Scottish towns and helped facilitate economic development as did the introduction of the first recorded Scottish coinage. He continued a process begun by his mother and brothers helping to establish foundations that brought reform to Scottish monasticism based on those at Cluny and he played a part in organising diocese on lines closer to those in the rest of Western Europe. [70] Main article: History of Christianity in Scotland Ebenezer Erskine whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church. Around 141, the Romans undertook a reoccupation of southern Scotland, moving up to construct a new limes between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, which became the Antonine Wall. The largest Roman construction inside Scotland, it is a sward-covered wall made of turf around 20 feet (6m) high, with nineteen forts. It extended for 37 miles (60km). Having taken twelve years to build, the wall was overrun and abandoned soon after 160. [37] [38] The Romans retreated to the line of Hadrian's Wall. [39] Roman troops penetrated far into the north of modern Scotland several more times, with at least four major campaigns. [40] The most notable invasion was in 209 when the emperor Septimius Severus led a major force north. [41] After the death of Severus in 210 they withdrew south to Hadrian's Wall, which would be Roman frontier until it collapsed in the 5th century. [42]

Fans of Outlander, Camelot, andthe Game of Thronesseries will love The Lost Queen. Our heroine in this novel, Languoreth, is the twin sister of Lailoken, the man who inspired the legend of Merlin. Although she falls in love with a warrior, Languoreth is already promised to wed Rhydderch, the son of a Christian king.James put Catholics in key positions in the government and attendance at conventicles was made punishable by death. He disregarded parliament, purged the council and forced through religious toleration to Roman Catholics, alienating his Protestant subjects. It was believed that the king would be succeeded by his daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, but when in 1688, James produced a male heir, James Francis Edward Stuart, it was clear that his policies would outlive him. An invitation by seven leading Englishmen led William to land in England with 40,000 men, and James fled, leading to the almost bloodless " Glorious Revolution". The Estates issued a Claim of Right that suggested that James had forfeited the crown by his actions (in contrast to England, which relied on the legal fiction of an abdication) and offered it to William and Mary, which William accepted, along with limitations on royal power. [124] The final settlement restored Presbyterianism and abolished the bishops who had generally supported James. However, William, who was more tolerant than the Kirk tended to be, passed acts restoring the Episcopalian clergy excluded after the Revolution. [130] Please note that Corrag has two alternate titles: The Highland Witchand Witch Light. If you’re looking for a historical fiction novel that combines a strong female protagonist and the Scottish Highlands, it’s one of the best Scotland books for you. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett After Wallace is captured by the British, Archie continues to fight against English tyranny alongside Robert Bruce. We would suggest this book to anyone who loves Scottish history and adventure novels (there are also romance undertones). Women of the Dunes by Sarah Maine

a b M. Magnusson (10 November 2003), "Review of James Buchan, Capital of the Mind: how Edinburgh Changed the World", New Statesman, archived from the original on 6 June 2011 Cowen, Tyler; Kroszner, Randall (1989). "Scottish Banking before 1845: A Model for Laissez-Faire?". Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. 21 (2): 221–231. doi: 10.2307/1992370. JSTOR 1992370. Knots and Crosses is the first book in the Inspector Rebus series, most of which occur in and around Edinburgh. The protagonist is, of course, Detective Inspector John Rebus, a respected Edinburgh cop.

Enlightenment and industry

Conversion to Christianity may have sped 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 Cínaed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) in the 840s, which brought to power the House of Alpin. [54] In 867 AD the Vikings seized the southern half of Northumbria, forming the Kingdom of York; [55] three years later they stormed the Britons' fortress of Dumbarton [56] and subsequently conquered much of England except for a reduced Kingdom of Wessex, [55] leaving the new combined Pictish and Gaelic kingdom almost encircled. [57] When he died as king of the combined kingdom in 900, Domnall II (Donald II) was the first man to be called rí Alban (i.e. King of Alba). [58] The term Scotia was increasingly used to describe the kingdom between North of the Forth and Clyde and eventually the entire area controlled by its kings was referred to as Scotland. [59] Scotland from the Matthew Paris map, c. 1250, showing Hadrian's Wall and above it the Antonine Wall, both depicted battlemented Industrialisation, urbanisation and the Disruption of 1843 all undermined the tradition of parish schools. From 1830 the state began to fund buildings with grants, then from 1846 it was funding schools by direct sponsorship, and in 1872 Scotland moved to a system like that in England of state-sponsored largely free schools, run by local school boards. [265] Overall administration was in the hands of the Scotch (later Scottish) Education Department in London. [266] Education was now compulsory from five to thirteen and many new board schools were built. Larger urban school boards established "higher grade" (secondary) schools as a cheaper alternative to the burgh schools. The Scottish Education Department introduced a Leaving Certificate Examination in 1888 to set national standards for secondary education and in 1890 school fees were abolished, creating a state-funded national system of free basic education and common examinations. [208] There is no better antidote against entertaining too high an opinion of others than having an excellent one of ourselves at the very same time.” A legacy of the Reformation in Scotland was the aim of having a school in every parish, which was underlined by an act of the Scottish parliament in 1696 (reinforced in 1801). In rural communities this obliged local landowners (heritors) to provide a schoolhouse and pay a schoolmaster, while ministers and local presbyteries oversaw the quality of the education. The headmaster or "dominie" was often university educated and enjoyed high local prestige. [203] The kirk schools were active in the rural lowlands but played a minor role in the Highlands, the islands, and in the fast-growing industrial towns and cities. [204] [205] The schools taught in English, not in Gaelic, because that language was seen as a leftover of Catholicism and was not an expression of Scottish nationalism. [206] In cities such as Glasgow the Catholics operated their own schools, which directed their youth into clerical and middle class occupations, as well as religious vocations. [207]