Note 619 — Chapter VIII · THE KINGDOM OF SCOTIA.

Mr. Burton gives Malcolm a reign of forty-six years. He says, ‘He is the first monarch of whose coronation we hear. The ceremony was at Scone near Perth—a place which had become the centre of royalty, though it hardly had the features which make us call a town a capital. History now becomes precise enough to fix the day of this event as the 25th of April 1057.’ By history Mr. Burton here means John of Fordun, whose authority ought not to be relied upon for such an event. The statement is quite incorrect. The first authentic record of a coronation at Scone is that of Malcolm the Fourth in 1154, and Malcolm Ceannmor reigned from 17th March 1057-8 to 13th November 1093, the day on which he was slain, or exactly thirty-five years and nearly eight months. The author has preferred narrating the events of his reign as nearly as possible in the words of the Chronicles which record them, as in fact we know nothing beyond what they tell us. All else is mere speculation, and adds nothing to our information. Mr. Burton introduces under this reign some remarks on the effect of the Norman influences and the feudal system upon Scotland. Excellent as these observations are, they are here out of place, and belong more properly to a later period. It was an old notion that feudalism came into Scotland in the reign of Malcolm, but it will not bear a close examination, and these influences were in fact very slight in the kingdom of Scotland proper, which still continued essentially in all its characteristics a Celtic kingdom till the reign of David the First, who was the first feudal monarch of Scotland, and when these influences became permanent. The author must, however, protest against one statement. Mr. Burton says (vol. i. p. 372), ‘Whether the thanes had or had not a distinct feudal existence independent of the power of the Crown to deal with them as official subordinates, it seems clear that the Abthane was placed among them as a royal officer, deriving his dignity and power from the Crown, and that it was his function to see to the collection of the royal dues payable from the landed estates—something, on the whole, bearing a close resemblance to feudal holding and its casualties.’ This account of the Abthane Mr. Burton has too readily adopted from Fordun, without proper examination; for nothing is more certain than that no such office, either in name or in reality, ever existed.