Note 373 — Chapter VI · THE KINGDOM OF SCONE.

In a charter by Malcolm IV. to the canons of Scone, it is said to be ‘in principali sede regni fundata’ (Scone Chart. No. 5); and in narrating the foundation of the monastery by Alexander I., Fordun says, in his earliest compilation, ‘Fundata enim est, ædificata et dedicata, ut dictum est, apud Sconam, ubi antiqui reges, Cruthne primo Pictorum rege, sedem regni Albaniæ constituerant,’ which he afterwards alters to ‘quam fundatum ædificavit loco, quo reges antiquitus tam Scoti quam Picti sedem regni primam constituerunt.’—Fordun, Chron., ed. 1871, pp. 430, 227. This shows the tradition that it was at an early period the principal seat of the kingdom. The Pictish Chronicle records a meeting at Scone between Constantine, king of Scotland, and the bishop of St. Andrews, in which the laws of the Church were regulated, and adds, ‘ab hoc die collis hoc meruit nomen, id est, Collis Credulitatis.’—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 9. The word ‘meruit’ does not imply that it was then first named, and it appears, as we shall see, in 728, under the name of Caislen Credi or Castellum Credi, that is, the Castle of Belief. At Scone, too, William the Lion decreed in council with his magnates that the Church should be maintained in its laws, rights, and privileges.—Act. Parl. Scot. vol. i. p. 60.