Norman influence in Scotland was accelerated through Malcolm III’s son, David I (1124 -1153) who invited Normans to settle in lands north and south of the Fourth. Further settlement took place under William the Lion and ‘Scottish’ family names such as Bruce, Fraser and Stewart first appear in Scotland as a result of this settlement. Norman presence accelerated the transition from kinship based rule to hereditary feudal monarchy in Scotland, but did not represent the start of this transition. Although the process by which this transition started is something of a mystery, friction between these two systems was already apparent in the eleventh century. In the entertaining but historically misleading story of MacBeth as told by Shakespeare, we are taught to despise MacBeth for his naked ambition and ruthlessness towards his country's sacred king (Ducan) and traditions, when in fact Macbeth had the traditional centuries old kinship claim to the throne, as was the way of the Gaels. The transition of power from Malcolm II through to Duncan represents the newer tendency towards hereditary monarchy. Norman influence then hastened the adoption of feudal monarchies that would marginalize the Gael’s tribal and kinship based rule and eventually lead to their geographical marginalization as well. Again we see that unique irony visited upon the Celts and Gaels where we have been taught by an Englishman to despise someone we should be rooting for, if perhaps only romantically, had we wished to see the Gael dominate the government that ruled the land of their culture.

Copyright 2001 Celtic Cabin / CYMRY productions