Authors: Heather Graham
| c6000BC: | Earliest peoples arrive from Europe (Stone Age): Some used stone axes to clear land. |
| c4500BC: | Second wave of immigrants arrive (New Stone Age or Neolithic). “Grooved ware,” simple forms of pottery found. They left behind important remains, perhaps most notably, their tombs and cairns. |
| c3500BC: | Approximate date of the remarkable chambered tombs at Maes Howe, Orkney. |
| c3000BC: | Carbon dating of the village at Skara Brae, also Orkney, showing houses built of stone, built-in beds, straw mattresses, skin spreads, kitchen utensils of bone and wood, and other more sophisticated tools. |
| c2500BC: | “Beaker” people arrive, Neolithic people who will eventually move into the Bronze Age. Bronze Age to last until approximately 700BC. |
| c700BC: | Iron Age beginsâiron believed to have been brought by Hallstadt peoples from central Europe. Terms “Celts” now applied to these people, from the Greek Keltoi; they were considered by the Greeks and Romans to be barbarians. Two types of Celtic language, P-Celtic, and Q-Celtic. |
| c600â100BC: | The earliest Celtic fortifications, including the broch, or large stone tower. Some offered fireplaces and freshwater wells. Crannogs, or island forts, were also built; these were structures often surrounded by spikes or walls of stakes. Souterrains were homes built into the earth, utilizing stone, some up to eighty feet long. The Celts become known for their warlike qualities as well as for their beautiful jewelry and colorful clothing; “trousers” are introduced by the Celts, perhaps learned from Middle Eastern societies. A rich variety of colors are used (perhaps forerunner to tartan designs) as well as long tunics, skirts, and cloaks to be held by the artistically wrought brooches. |
| 55BC: | Julius Caesar invades southern Britain. |
| 56BC: | Julius Caesar attacks again, but again, the assault does not reach Scotland. |
| AD43: | The Roman Plautius attacks; by the late 70s AD, the Romans have come to Scottish land. |
| AD78â84: | The Roman Agricola, newly appointed governor, born a Gaul, plans to attack the Celts. Beginning in AD80, he launches a two-pronged full-scale attack. There are no roads and he doesn't have time to build them as the Romans have done elsewhere in Britain. 30,000 Romans marched; they will be met by a like number of Caledonians. (Later to be called Picts for their custom of painting or tattooing their faces and bodies.) After the battle of Mons Graupius, the Roman historian Tacitus (son-in-law of Agricola) related that 10,000 Caledonians were killed, that they were defeated. However, the Romans retreat southward after orders to withdraw. |
| AD122: | Hadrian arrives in Britain and orders the construction of his famous wall. |
| AD142: | Antoninus Pius arrives with fresh troops due to continual trouble in Scotland. The Antonine Wall is built, and garrisoned for the following twenty years. |
| AD150â200: | The Romans suffer setbacks. An epidemic kills much of the population, and Marcus Aurelius dies, to be followed by a succession of poor rulers. |
| ADc208: | Severus comes to Britain and attacks in Scotland, dealing some cruel blows, but his will be the last major Roman invasion. He dies in York in AD211, and the Caledonians are then free from Roman intervention, though they will occasionally venture south to Roman holdings on raids. |
| AD350â400: | Saxon pirates raid from northwest Europe, forcing the Picts southward over the wall. Fierce invaders arrive from Ireland: the Scotti, a word meaning raiders. Eventually, the country will take its name from these people. |
| ADc400: | St. Ninian, a British Celtic bishop, builds a monastery church at Whithorn. It is known as Candida Casa. His missionaries might have pushed north as far as the Orkney islands; they were certainly responsible for bringing Christianity to much of the country. |
| ADc450: | The Romans abandon Britain altogether. Powerful Picts invade lower Britain, and the Romanized people ask for help from Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. Scotland then basically divided among four peoples: Picts, Britons, Angles, and the Scotti of Dalriada. “Clan” life beginsâthe word clann meaning “children” in Gaelic. Family groups are kin with the most important, possibly strongest, man becoming chief of his family and extended family. As generations go by, the clans grow larger, and more powerful. |
| AD500â700: | The Angles settle and form two kingdoms, Deira and Bernicia. Aethelfrith, king from AD593â617, wins a victory against the Scotia at Degsastan and severely crushes the Britonsâwho are left in a tight position between the Picts and Angles. He seizes the throne of King Edwin of Deira as well, causing bloodshed between the two kingdoms for the next fifty years, keeping the Angles busy and preventing warfare between them and their Pictish and Scottish neighbors. Fergus MacErc and his brothers, Angus and Lorne, c500, bring a fresh migration of Scotia from Ireland to Dalriada, and though the communities had been close (between Ireland and Scotland), they soon after begin to pull away. By the late 500s, St. Columba comes to Iona, creating a strong kingship there, and spreading Christianity even farther than St. Ninian. In AD685 at Nechtansmere, the Angles are severely defeated by the Picts; their king Ecgfrith is slain, and his army is half slaughtered. This prevents Scotland from becoming part of England at an early date. |
| AD787: | The first Viking raid, according to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. In 797, Lindisfarne is viciously attacked, and the monastery is destroyed. “From the Fury of the Northmen, deliver us, oh, Lord!” becomes a well-known cry. |
| AD843: | Kenneth MacAlpian, son of a Scots king, who is also a descendant from Pictish kings through his maternal lineage, claims and wins the Pictish throne as well as his own. It is not an easy task as he sets forth to combine his two peoples into the country of Scotland. Soon after becoming king of the Picts and the Scotia, he moves his capital from Dunadd to Scone, and has the “Stone of Destiny” brought there, now known as the Stone of Scone. (And recently returned to Scotland.) The savage Viking raids become one focus that will help to unite the Picts and the Scots. Despite the raids and the battles, by the tenth century, many of the Vikings are settling in Scotland. The Norse kings rule the Orkneys through powerful jarls, and they maintain various other holdings in the country, many in the Hebrides. The Vikings will become a fifth main people to make up the Scottish whole. Kenneth is followed by a number of kings that are his descendants, but not necessarily immediate heirs, nor is the Pictish system of accepting the maternal line utilized. It appears that a powerful member of the family, supported by other powerful members, comes to the throne. |
| AD878: | Alfred (the Great) of Wessex defeats the Danes. (They will take up residence in East Anglia and at times, rule various parts of England.) |
| AD1018: | Kenneth's descendent, Malcolm II, finally wins a victory over the Angles at Carham, bringing Lothian under Scottish rule. In this same year, the king of the Britons of Strathclyde dies without an heir. Duncan, Malcolm's heir, has a claim to the throne through his maternal ancestry. |
| AD1034: | Malcolm dies, and Duncan, his grandson, succeeds him as king of a Scotland that now includes the Pictish, Scottish, Anglo, and Briton lands, and pushes into English lands. |
| AD1040: | Duncan is killed by MacBeth, the Mormaer (or high official) of Moray, who claims the throne through his own ancestry, and that of his wife. Despite Shake-speare's version, he is suspected of having been a good king, and a good Christianâgoing on pilgrimage to Rome in AD1050. |
| AD1057: | MacBeth is killed by Malcolm III, Duncan's son. (Malcolm had been raised in England.) Malcolm is known as Malcolm Canmore, or Ceann Mor, or Big Head. |
| AD1059: | Malcolm marries Ingibjorg, a Norse noblewoman, probably the daughter of Thorfinn the Mighty. |
| AD1066: | Harold, king of England, rushes to the north of his country to battle an invading Norse army. Harold wins the battle, only to rush back south, to Hastings, to meet another invading force. |
| AD1066: | William the Conqueror invades England and slays Harold, the Saxon King. |
| AD1069: | Malcolm III marries (as his second wife) Princess Margaret, sister to the deposed Edgar Atheling, the Saxon heir to the English throne. Soon after, he launches a series of raids into England, feeling justified in that his brother-in-law has a very real claim to the English throne. England retaliates. |
| 1071AD: | Malcolm is forced to pay homage to William the Conqueror at Abernathy. Despite the battles between them, Malcolm remains popular among the English. |
| AD1093: | While attacking Northumberland (some say to circumvent a Norman invasion), Malcolm is killed in ambush. Queen Margaret dies three days later. Scotland falls into turmoil. Malcolm's brother Donald Ban, raised in the Hebrides under Norse influence, seizes the throne and overthrows Norman policy for Viking. |
| AD1094: | William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, sends Malcolm's oldest son, Duncan, who has been a hostage in England, to overthrow his uncle, Donald. Duncan overthrows Donald, but is murdered himself, and Donald returns to the throne. |
| AD1097: | Edgar, Duncan's half-brother, is sent to Scotland with an Anglo-Norman army, and Donald is chased out once again. He brings in many Norman knights and families, and makes peace with Magnus Barelegs, the King of Norway, formally ceding to him lands in the Hebrides which has already been a holding for a very long time. |
| AD1107: | Edgar dies; his brother, Alexander, succeeds him, but rules only the land between Forth and Spey; his younger brother, David, rules south of the Forth. Alexander's sister, Maud, had become the wife of Henry I of England, and Alexander has married Henry's daughter by a previous marriage, Sibylla. These matrimonial alliances make a very strong bond between the Scottish and English royal houses. |
| AD1124: | Alexander dies. David (also raised in England) inherits the throne for all Scotland. He is destined to rule for nearly thirty years, to be a powerful king who will create burghs, a stronger church, a number of towns, and introduce a sound system of justice. He will be a patron of arts and learning. Having married an heiress, he is also an English noble, being Earl of Northampton and Huntington, and Prince of Cumbria. He brings feudalism to Scotland, and many friends, including de Brus, whose descendants will include Robert Bruce, fitzAllen, who will become High Stewardâand, of course, a man named Sir William Graham. |
| AD1153: | Death of David I. Malcolm IV, known as Malcolm the Maiden, becomes king. He is a boy of eleven. |
| AD1154: | Henry Plantagenet (Henry II) becomes king in England. Forces Malcolm to return Northumbria to England. |
| AD1165: | Malcolm dies and is succeeded by his brother, William the Lion. William forms what will be known as the Auld Alliance with France. |
| AD1174: | William invades England. The Scots are heavily defeated; William is taken prisoner and must sign the Treaty of Falaise. Scotland falls under feudal subjugation to England. |
| AD1189: | Richard Coeur de Lion (Plantagenet, Henry's son) now king of England, renounces his feudal superiority over Scotland for 10,000 marks. |
| AD1192: | The Scottish Church is released from English supremacy by Pope Celestine III. More than a hundred years peace between England and Scotland begins. |
| AD1214: | William the Lion dies. Succeeded by Alexander II, his son. |
| AD1238: | As Alexander is currently without a son, a parliament allegedly declares Robert Bruce (grandfather of the future king) nearest male relative and heir to the throne. The king, however, fathers a son. (Sets a legal precedent for the Bruces to claim the throne at the death of the Maid of Norway.) |
| AD1249: | Death of Alexander II. Ascension of Alexander III, age seven, to the throne. (He will eventually marry Margaret, sister of the king of England, and during his lifetime, there will be peaceful relations with England.) |
| AD1263: | Alexander III continues his father's pursuit of the Northern Isles, whose leaders give their loyalty to Norway. King Haakon raises a fleet against him. Alexander buys him off until October, when the fierce weather causes their fleet to fall apart at the Battle of Largs. Haakon's successor, Magnus, signs a treaty wherein the isles fall under the dominion of the Scottish king. The Orkneys and Shetlands remain under Norse rule for the time being. |
| ADc1270: | William Wallace born. |
| AD1272: | Edward I (Plantagenet) becomes king of England. |
| AD1277â1284: | Edward pummels Wales. Prince Llywelyn is killed; his brother Dafyd is taken prisoner and suffers the fate of traitors. In 1284, the Statute of Wales is issued, transferring the principality to “our proper dominion,” united and annexed to England. |
| AD1283: | Alexander's daughter, Margaret, marries the King of Norway. |
| AD1284: | Alexander obtains from his magnates an agreement to accept his granddaughter, Margaret the Maid of Norway as his heiress. |
| AD1286: | Death of Alexander III. The Maid of Norway, a small child, is accepted as his heiress. Soon after the king's death, Edward of England suggests a marriage treaty between the Maid and his son, Edward. |