Chapter I · ​—INTRODUCTION. (continued 5)

¹ Anderson’s Scotland, Iron Age.

Attempts have been made, however, to show that the Scotch Brochs were erected by the Norsemen. The main ground on which it has been sought to assign these peculiar structures to this people is, because the Brochs are nearly all found in the localities which were at one time more or less occupied by them. This circumstance does afford a presumption in favour of assigning the erection of the Brochs to them, and if it were supported by other circumstances, and clear traces of Norse products associated with these structures, the presumption might be rendered decisive. No trace of this special type of building has been discovered in the Norsemen’s own lands, and further, it has been shown that the implements, tools, and objects associated with the occupation of the Brochs are not Scandinavian in their forms and characteristics, but on the contrary are characteristic of the groups of implements and objects of the Celtic area of Scotland in post-Roman times.¹ Thus the presumption founded on locality completely falls to the ground, and no other tangible trace of the Norsemen’s connection with the erection of the Brochs has, as yet, been discovered.

¹ Ibid., page 259. Dr. James Ferguson contends, with much determination, that the Brochs were erected by the Norsemen. Except the geographical presumption, which he uses with great ingenuity, he adduces no valid evidence whatever to establish his contention. See The Brochs, etc., of the Orkney Islands and the North of Scotland.

The traces of the life of the people who occupied the Brochs, disclosed by excavations and investigations in connection with their contents, are of considerable historic value, and may be briefly noticed. The objects found in and around the sites of the Brochs consist of manufactured implements, tools, and ornaments, of stone, bronze, and iron. Many stone querns​—small hand mills for grinding grain,​—stone pounders of various sizes, stone mortars, drinking-cups, hammer-stones, stone vessels of large size, stone spindle-whorles, and other tools; many articles in bone, such as combs of various kinds, long-handed ones, short round-backed, single-edged ones, and double-edged, some of which were ornamented; bone-buttons, pins in a variety of forms, and some of them ornamented, bone needles neatly made, and other bone objects. Bronze tweezers, pins, armlets, and other objects; several iron implements​—spear-heads, daggers, knives, and chisels. Clay moulds for casting bronze pins, a large number of spindle-whorles for spinning with the distaff and spindle, many fragments of home-made pottery, and other articles of domestic use.

Amongst the refuse of the food of the Broch occupiers, the following were found:​—Remains of animals, consisting of the ox, sheep of small size, the goat, the pig, the horse, dogs of various sizes, the reindeer, red-deer, and the roe; birds and fowls not in great numbers, but some of large size. Among the marine remains were a species of whale, the porpoise, the dog-fish, the cod, and haddock, and such edible shell-fish as the oyster, the mussel, the cockle, the periwinkle, and the limpet, were abundant.¹

¹ Anderson’s Scotland, Iron Age, pages 211‒258; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume VII., pages 43‒46, 56‒79, 426‒436; Volume VIII., pages 188‒204; Volume X., pages 5‒23; Orkneyinga Saga, Introduction, pages 109, 110.

From the above statement of facts taken in connection with the characteristics of the Brochs themselves, it appears that the people who possessed and inhabited them were cultivators of the ground. They grew grain, kept flocks and herds, hunted the woods, and fished the sea for their food. They practised industries and arts which demanded intelligence and technical skill, and it seems almost certain that they manufactured all the weapons and implements which they used; and we know that they made their own ornaments, as the clay moulds, crucibles, and the cakes of rough metal, have been found in several of the Brochs. The women practised the arts of spinning and weaving, while the men made the implements of stone and bone and the ornaments. They had attained to a stage of considerable culture and civilisation, and it is clear that they were the people of the soil, and that they had been long settled on it. Indeed, there is not a shred of evidence, either circumstantial or recorded, that they were a horde of strangers who had newly effected a lodgment in a hostile country.

It was mentioned in a preceding section that the earlier religious erections in Scotland were usually formed of wood, which possibly rested upon a stone foundation. Fragments and remains of a number of examples of rude stone chapels and cells which were erected before the twelfth century still exist. They mostly occur in the Isles; and, beginning with those which appear to be the earliest, I will proceed to notice briefly the others in succession.¹

¹ There were also a number of caves associated with the names of the early saints and missionaries who were engaged, from the fifth century to the ninth, in spreading the Gospel among the tribes of Scotland, and the walls of these caves are covered with memorials of their devotion in the form of small crosses sculptured on the rocks. See Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II., Appendix to Preface, pages 87, 88, et seq.

Loch Columcille, in Skye, was drained about seventy years ago by Lord Macdonald, and what was once an island in the centre of the loch is now an elevated spot in marshy ground. This patch of ground extends to about three acres, and on its northern side are the remains of an irregular circular enclosure of rude and uncemented masonry, measuring about sixteen yards in diameter from east to west, and eleven from north to south; within the enclosure there are traces of three cells and other erections, which were probably covered with beehive vaulting. One of the ruins, called St. Columba’s Church, measured internally twenty-two feet in length and twelve feet in width. On the small island of Eilean na Naoimh, which lies between Scarba and Mull, there are the remains of a number of beehive cells with dry-built walls, which were associated with a small church, also built of undressed stones without mortar of any kind. This church had only one small window placed in its east end, and the cells connected with it were very small. A considerable number of these small churches and cells have been found in the Western Isles and even in Orkney. Amongst the ruins of the monastery in the Isle of Inchcolm, there is a very early specimen of a stone roofed cell. It is irregular in form, and internally sixteen feet in length, six feet three inches wide at the east end, and four feet nine inches at the west end. The walls are three feet thick. The doorway was placed in the south wall near the west end, and it was five feet high and four feet wide, with inclining jambs and roughly arched externally by a radiating arch, but internally the arch was formed in the older overlapping principle. It had only one small window, placed in the east end. The roof was vaulted with stones in the form of a radiating arch, and the centring stones roughly wedge-shaped, and the space between the upper surface of the vaulting and the stone-roof was filled with small stones and a grouting of lime, in which were bedded the oblong roofing stones.¹ Such were the primitive forms of the earliest stone churches in Scotland.

¹ Muir’s Characteristics of Old Church Architecture, pages 2, 56, 141, 143, 205, 206; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume II., page 489, et seq.; Reeves’ Adamnan, page 138.

The next stage showed an approach towards the form of the chancelled church, passing through various types, which may be briefly indicated thus:​—A church with a chancel added on to the nave but not banded into it, which showed a transition from the single chambered structure to the double chambered form. In some specimens of this variety the opening from the nave to the chancel is flat-headed and formed with inclined jambs, and in others the end of the barrel-vault of the chancel roof opened directly into the nave. Then came the developed chancel arch, associated with other features which passed into the current architecture of the twelfth century. There are examples of the Celtic chancelled churches in the Isles, while the church of St. Regulus at St. Andrews presents a fine specimen of the fully developed form of this style.¹

¹ Anderson’s Scotland in Early Christian Times, pages 32‒37; Lectures on Mediæval Architecture, by Sir Gilbert Scott, page 24.

There are two characteristic round towers of ecclesiastical origin in Scotland, one at Brechin in Forfarshire, and the other at Abernethy in Perthshire. They are not now connected with the remains of an early Celtic church; but the Tower of Brechin stands in the churchyard, and the Abernethy one stands partly within and partly beyond the churchyard. They resemble the round towers of Ireland, and belong to that class of structures.

The round Tower of Brechin stands at the south-west angle of the Cathedral, which now embraces nearly one-fourth of its circumference. At the base its external diameter is fifteen feet three inches, and its internal diameter seven feet eleven inches, and the walls are three feet eight inches thick; at the top its external diameter is thirteen feet, and the internal eight feet one inch, and the walls two feet five inches thick. The height of the Tower from the base to the spring of the modern spirelet, which now crowns it, is eighty-six feet nine inches; it is perfectly circular and tapers regularly from base to summit. Internally it is divided into seven stories by string courses. It is built of a hard reddish sandstone, and the masonry is massive; the stones are cut and fitted to each other with remarkable neatness; the courses are mostly horizontal with some irregularity, and the joints are not uniformly vertical. There are six windows, one in the third story, another in the fourth, and four in the upper story, which show certain peculiarities of structure. The doorway, however, is the most interesting feature of the Tower. Its dimensions are these:​—The breadth at the spring of the arch is one foot seven and a half inches, and at the sill one foot eleven inches; the height of the entrance to the centre of the arch is six feet one and a half inch; and its entire height from the base of the external ornament to the summit of the crucifix, which surmounts the centre of the arch, is eight feet eleven inches. This doorway is formed of four stones, with jambs inclined towards each other. The jambs have a raised band, and rows of pellets run all round the doorway between two narrow fillets, while about the middle of the jambs on each side there are raised panels with figures of ecclesiastics in relief; and on the lower part of the jambs on each side there are crouching figures of beasts, bearing a close resemblance to some of those carved on the early sculptured stones. From various structural relations and associated circumstances, it seems highly probable that this Tower was erected in the eleventh century.

The Abernethy Round Tower is built of stones dressed to the curve, laid in horizontal courses with the joints vertical, and thus it differs somewhat in its masonry from the Brechin Tower. But the general features of form and construction of the two towers are remarkably similar. The Abernethy Tower is seventy-two feet in height, and it is divided into six stories by string courses, and it originally had seven windows. It appears that the original purpose of these towers was to afford an asylum for the ecclesiastics, and especially a place of security in times of war for the precious relics of the famous saints, such as shrines, crosiers, books, and bells, which were regarded with extreme and almost incredible veneration both in Ireland and in Scotland.

Stone monuments of various kinds associated with the memory of the dead, have already been treated in the prehistoric sections; and once more attention must be directed to a somewhat analogous, but a later and more artistic series of monumental stones. This series class is known as the Sculptured Stones of Scotland. For various reasons it will be necessary to deal with them at some length. The transition from the rough and undressed standing-stones and circles which were treated in connection with interments, to those now to be handled, was not abrupt, the progress from the earlier classes of monuments to the later classes proceeded gradually. Points of much historic interest and importance, both of an ethnic and artistic character, are inseparably associated with the Sculptured Stones.

The earliest class of sculptured stones are generally of granite or whinstone, and undressed, with peculiar symbols and figures incised on one face of the stone only, and with no Christian symbol of the cross. Nearly one hundred of this class have been figured or described. The area in which they have been found stretches from the Firth of Forth to Caithness, or over the eastern half of the country. But they are most common in the region between the Tay and the Spey; scarcely a single example occurs south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, nor in the Western Isles nor Argyle. They are mainly distributed thus,​—three between the Forth and Tay, six between the Tay and the Dee, thirty-six between the Dee and Spey, and twenty-one to the northward of the Spey. In the same districts there are (or were) forty-three standing slabs more or less dressed, and with both faces sculptured; and on these the peculiar symbols of the rough stones appear carved along with crosses of various design and degrees of ornamentation. As to the local distribution of this class, twenty-seven were found between the Forth and the Dee; six between the Dee and the Spey; and ten to the north of the Spey.¹ A large number of such monuments have doubtless disappeared through the action of various causes and agencies, long before an intelligent historic interest was directed to them in this country.

¹ Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume I., Prefix, pages 6‒8; Volume II., Appendix to Preface, pages 74, 75. The symbols occur on a fragment of a stone at Edinburgh, and on a rock in Galloway.

Within the above area, and in other quarters of the kingdom, there are other sculptured monuments which differ from both of the types just indicated, and which are also Celtic in their leading characteristics. In the West of Scotland two types of monumental stones occur: 1, The free-standing crosses, ornamented in a fine Celtic style, but differing from the eastern monuments in the absence of the peculiar symbols. 2, At a much later period the stone cross of the West Coasts and Islands became characterised by a style of art which differed from the distinctive forms of the pure Celtic art. The distinguishing features of this latter style, consisted in the elaboration of graceful forms of foliage, and a freer development of the knot and scroll work than appears on the earlier stone cross of the eastern division of Scotland.

A number of erect undressed stones, with incised crosses simply, and all of archaic character, have been observed here and there throughout the country, and this group seems to present the earliest examples of the unornamented series of crosses. A more complete classification of the early incised crosses without the figured and peculiar symbols, and the other series having these peculiar symbols incised on them but without any cross, may hereafter be attained by carefully tracing the indications of development, and then showing that both classes passed into the decorated type, which presents the curious symbols and the cross, and also combined them with other subjects and scroll ornamentation.

Although it cannot be proved by direct evidence that the rough upright stones with the peculiar symbols incised on them succeeded the rough unsculptured standing stones, found singly and in circles throughout Scotland, still there are many facts and associated phenomena which point to this conclusion. For that circles of rough pillar stones were placed around the graves of our ancestors ages before the introduction of Christianity into this country cannot be questioned. When, therefore, similar undressed stones have been found standing with peculiar figures incised on one of their faces, which figures cannot be proved to have any reference to Christianity, why should it be assumed that these figures were Christian in their origin? Let us try the point in this way. Is the Cross an essential symbol of Christianity or not? If the sign of the Cross was believed to be so full of virtue and power as it is represented to have been in this country in early Christian times, is it conceivable that Christians would have cut figures and symbols on stone monuments without a cross on them? We are told that it was then a custom to cross tools and implements before using them, and if these rough monuments be of Christian origin, we must suppose that, though the very tools with which the figures were cut had been crossed and blessed, yet the men who used these tools so far forgot themselves that they never thought of cutting a cross​—the chief symbol of their religion​—on any of these stones.¹ Instead of advancing a view which involves such unwarranted assumptions, it seems more in accordance with ascertained facts and associated circumstances, to infer that these rude sculptured stones existed in Scotland with the peculiar symbols cut on them before the great emblem of the Christian Cross had become known in this quarter of the globe. Upwards of a hundred examples of these rough pillar stones with the symbols but no cross have been found, and doubtless a much greater number existed in earlier times. The curious symbols were continued, like many other things, into Christian times, as they frequently re-appear in monuments wherein the main idea and leading feature is the Christian cross. The monuments of the Christian period were mostly formed of dressed slabs with sculptures on both sides. On one face a cross in the centre covered with ornamental work of intricate and varied patterns, and with the peculiar symbols still retaining their original outline as on the rough stones, although usually overwarped by ornaments appropriate to the Christian cross style. On the reverse of the same stone different objects or scenes were frequently depicted.

¹ Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume I., Preface, 2, 3; Volume II., Preface, 5‒7. Dr. Anderson deemed it unnecessary to discuss at any length the question of the pagan origin of these peculiar symbols which first appear on the rough unhewed stones; yet he makes a somewhat sweeping generalisation to the following effect:​—“And now I sum up the whole bearings of the evidence, whether derived from the general features or from the special art characteristics of these monuments in one generalisation. They are monuments of Christian character and Christian time. There is no evidence to show that there was among our forefathers any pre-existing or Pagan custom of erecting such sculptured monuments in honour of the dead.... We may find the cover of cist, a rude unshapely block, sculptured on its under side with cups and circles, or with triangles and rudely formed spirals. But we have never found in Scotland any monuments erected over a Pagan grave which exhibits the least approach to a truly artistic decoration. The custom of erecting such monuments is Christian and Christian alone, so far as Scotland is concerned, and the art they exhibit and the letters they bear were brought into this country with the copies of the Gospels from which Christianity was taught to the people.” Scotland in Early Christian Times, pages 132‒133, 1881. Dr. Anderson’s one generalisation is far too dogmatic, and hardly in accordance with ascertained facts, or even consistent with some of his own conclusions in other parts of his writings.

The peculiar symbols may be briefly described. One of those which often occurs is a crescent combined with a rod, resembling the letter V, and terminating in ornamented extremities; the body of it is occasionally plain, but oftener filled with ornaments. Another symbol of frequent occurrence consists of two circles connected by two slightly curved lines; sometimes it appears alone, and more frequently associated with a bent figure terminating in ornamented extremities. The circles are sometimes plain, but usually filled with concentric circles, forms of spirals, of interlaced work, or bosses in relief. A symbol of frequent occurrence somewhat resembles the shape of a horse-shoe; it usually appears alone, but sometimes in combination with a bent rod. Amongst the more common figures used as symbols on these stone crosses, are the head of an animal which appears in a variety of combinations; a figure formed of three circles, a large one in the centre with a smaller one attached at each side; a smith’s anvil, a hammer and tongs, and the shears along with the mirror and comb.¹

¹ Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II., pages 22‒23; Appendix to Preface, 1‒12, 19‒21; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume X., pages 333‒347, 637‒640.

A number of the representations on these stones have been explained as scenes from the Bible.¹ But I have limited myself to a plain statement of what appears on the stones, without attempting to load them with far off interpretations. Although the primary purposes of these monuments was sepulchral and memorial; there can be no reasonable doubt that many of the accessories which appear upon them, such as the costume, the weapons, and many other distinctive objects, were those of the country and the period. In this relation as illustrative materials of unwritten history they have a considerable value. They afford illustrations of human life in Scotland, and show it in its common, as well as in its ecclesiastical and military characteristics. The scenes on these stones depict the dress of the warrior, the huntsman, the ecclesiastic, and the pilgrim. Such important tools and weapons of the period, as the knife, the axe, the dirk, the spear, the sword, the shield, and the bow, are all admirably represented. We learn from these representations that the horsemen of the age rode without spurs or stirrups, sat upon peaked saddle-cloths, and used snaffle-bridles with check rings and ornamental rosettes; that they travelled on horseback, and wore peaked hoods and cloaks; that when hunting, or on horseback armed, they wore a kilted dress falling a little below the knees, and a plaid across the shoulders. When travelling on foot they wore tight-fitting under garments, and a plaid loosely wrapped round the body, and sometimes a tight jerkin with sleeves and belt round the waist. They ♦wore their hair long, flowing, and curly, sometimes with peaked beards, at other times with moustaches on the upper lip, and shaven cheeks and chin.² They used long bows in war, and cross-bows in hunting. Their swords were long, broad-bladed, and double-edged, with triangular pommels and straight guards; their spears had long heads, and their shields were rounded and furnished with bosses. On horseback they fought with sword, spear, and shield; and on foot with sword and buckler. They used two wheeled carriages with poles for draught by two horses, the driver sitting on a seat over the pole, and the wheels had ornamented spokes. They used high chairs with side-arms, carved backs, and sometimes ornamented with heads of animals. Their boats had high prows and stern-posts. They used trumpets, and played beautifully on the harp. The ecclesiastics of the period wore long dresses, which were richly and elaborately embroidered; they walked about in loose short boots, and carried crosiers, and book sachels in their hands.³ Such are a few of the many historic and interesting facts which are portrayed with striking distinctness on these monuments.

¹ Dr. Anderson in his Scotland in Early Christian Times, has given Scriptural interpretations of certain scenes of some of the stones. See pages 144‒173.

² “Long and flowing hair was at first evidence that the wearer was a noble, and always that he possessed unforfeited and unimpeached all the rights of a freeman. It conferred dignity on the wearer, and the highest and most illustrious were proud of it. It was the distinction in which the Carlovingian Kings of France most glorified; and Harold, Fairhair, and Canute the Great, considered that the length and beauty of their hair added to their lawful claims to popular admiration. In the earliest periods, beards and moustaches were worn of immense size, and were especially esteemed by such of the population as were of British descent. The want of them was considered by the laity as a mark of weakness and vulgarity, and by the clergy as evidence of effeminacy and dissolute life. The Anglo-Saxon priesthood persisted in wearing them, in defiance of canonical prohibition, till Dunstan compelled them to shave in an orthodox manner.

“If the right of wearing long hair was important to men, it was doubly so to women; for with them it was not only a mark of rank, but of chastity. Every young freewoman, while unmarried, was said to be in her hair, which she wore long and loose; and when she married, she was required to dress it in a different manner. If she misconducted herself, it was cut off altogether.” Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II., Appendix to Preface, pages 6‒8, and Volume I., plates 61, 77, Volume II., plate 103. There is some very curious information touching the subject in the Ancient Laws of Ireland. It is worth mentioning that cropping the hair and beard is to this day a part of military and criminal punishment.

³ Sculptured Stones of Scotland, especially in Volume I. throughout, plates 26, 16, 29, 46, 52, 69, 76, 25, 43, 47, 58, 64, 70, 80, 82, 49, 93, 77, 61, 74, 126, Volume II. plates 16, 2, 4, 12, 129.

Touching the art of these monuments, the earliest type, the undressed pillars without the cross, exhibit little art. The peculiar symbols, already described, are simply formed by incised lines, with little ornamentation. The floriated ends of the sceptre appears in various forms, the divergent spiral, and attempts to represent the feathers of a bird by angular lines and long flowing lines. But the range of decoration is very limited in this class of monuments, although it is essentially and characteristically Celtic, and this was its earliest stage on stone.

When we come to examine the stones with crosses on them, we find that the art becomes developed to a high degree of perfection. It is clear that the leading ideal and aim of the art manifested on these monuments was decoration; and its prevailing characteristic is a decoration of panels separated from each other by borders and then treated as surfaces. These surfaces often result from the divisions of the general surface by the main design, which may be a cross embracing the entire length of the stone. At other times the cross is divided into panels, or the spaces on each side of the shaft. Again, there is sometimes a border of decoration round the chief subject, which is divided into panels. The general surface is always decorated in spaces which balance each other exactly. The greatest elaboration on the surface of the finest monuments is attained by the use of interlaced work. The designs are not very numerous; but the divisions and the variations of the decorative and the symbolic ornaments appear to be almost infinite, the combinations endless, and yet beautiful, balanced, symmetrical, and perfect specimens of art.¹

¹ Dr. Anderson has treated the art of these monuments at great length, and with much care and precision. See his Scotland Early Christian Times, pages 97‒135, 1881. The late Dr. John Stuart, the editor of the two volumes of the Sculptured Stones, has also, in his two prefaces and notes, presented much valuable information.

No other monuments show a greater profusion of ornament, or a style of decoration more striking and effective in its result. The art exhibits originality and individuality, always like itself in its distinctive characteristics. In short, these ancient monuments clearly indicate that the men who produced them were gifted with imaginative, reproductive, and elaborative faculties of a high order, associated with an intensity of feeling and a concentration of attention directed to the attainment of a definite end, rarely manifested anywhere.

It is probable that the more ornate and decorative features of this art were not originated and continuously developed as sculptures on stone. Although there is no reason whatever to doubt that the art of the rough incised stones bearing the symbols only, with no cross, did originate in Scotland, but its special characteristic consisted in incised work, which showed little decoration of any kind. The decorative and ornate characteristics of the art, no doubt, were first developed in the pages of the illuminated manuscripts; and this art of illuminating manuscripts was developed to a high degree of perfection at an early period in Ireland. The same art was practised in Scotland, though only a few specimens of it remain, which do not approach the perfection of the Irish examples. “It is interesting to compare these Irish illuminations with those of the Book of Deer, which may be presumed to be a work of Scotch art of a period not later than the volume of MacDuran, who died in 927, so the age of his work is the early part of the tenth century; and it will be remarked in the specimens here given, that the ornamented patterns composing the surrounding borders are identical with those on many of the crosses, and the design of the latter is, in many cases, the same as that of a page of the manuscripts, showing a rich border round the margin of the stone, with pictorial representations inside. The peculiar art of the Irish illuminations and the Scotch crosses is found on many bronze relics of the Christian period, as well as on those of an earlier age.”¹

¹ Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II., Appendix to Preface, page 81. “The peculiarities of the Irish style consists,​—1, in the entire absence of foliage or other vegetable ornament, the classical acanthus being entirely ignored; and 2, in the extreme intricacy and excessive minuteness and elaboration of the various patterns, mostly geometrical, consisting of interlaced ribbon work, diagonal or spiral lines, and strange monstrous animals and birds, with long top-knots, tongues, and tails intertwined in almost endless knots. The most sumptuous of the manuscripts​—such, for instance, as the Book of ♦Kells, the Gospels of Lindisfarne and St. Chad, and some of the manuscripts of St. Gall​—have entire pages covered with the most elaborate patterns in compartments, the whole forming beautiful cruciform designs, one of these facing the commencement of each of the four Gospels. The labour employed in such a mass of work must have been very great, the care infinite, since the most scrutinising examination with a magnifying glass will not detect an error in the truth of the lines or the regularity of the interlacing; and yet, with all this minuteness, the harmonious effect of colouring has been introduced.” O. Jones’s Grammar of Ornament, page 3, quoted in Sculptured Stones of Scotland.

Mr. Westwood says​—“The principles of these most elaborate ornaments are, however, but few in number, and may be reduced to the four following:​—1st, One or more narrow ribbons diagonally but symmetrically interlaced, forming an endless variety of patterns. 2nd, One, two, or three slender spiral lines, coiling one within another till they meet in the centre of the circle, their opposite ends going off to other circles. 3rd, A vast variety of lacerative animals and birds, hideously attenuated and coiled within one another, with their tails, tongues, and top-knots forming long narrow ribbons irregularly interlaced. 4th, A series of diagonal lines, forming various kinds of Chinese-like patterns. These ornaments are generally introduced into small compartments, a number of which are arranged so as to form the large initial letters and borders or tesselated pages with which the first manuscripts were decorated.” Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II., Appendix to Preface, page 77.

It thus appears that it was only after the decorative elements of the art had attained a high degree of elaboration on parchment, that it began to be generally applied to stone in Scotland. It seems also probable that, looking to the profusion and quality of the ornament and decoration on the early stone monuments of Scotland, that there would have been something like a proportionate quantity on the pages of books which have perished. Some of the elements of this art are common, however, to a wider area than that of Celtic Scotland, Ireland, or Europe, being found, to a greater or less extent, in the art of many nations. Still the Celtic art of Scotland has distinctive characteristics of its own; in like manner as the art of other nations have special peculiarities which distinguishes each from that of others: for there is nothing in the world which stands absolutely alone and out of all relation. The essence of art belongs to the human mind and to humanity. But different nations have embodied their art in a variety of forms, differing in degrees of perfection and development, or in the elaboration given to certain elements of art, and special forms and characteristics.

The ethnic implications connected with these monuments remain to be considered, and may be shortly stated thus:​—The region in which the greater number of these ancient monuments have been found, and those of the most distinctive and characteristic type, embraced the whole of eastern Scotland, from the Firths of Forth and Clyde to Caithness. This is the region where both the undressed stones bearing incised symbols on one side, but no cross, and the dressed stones bearing crosses and symbols; and here Celtic art attained the highest development which it ever reached in Scotland. It will be remembered that this was the country occupied by the people called the Picts. It is, therefore, a fair inference that these monuments were the work of the Pictish people. Further, it has been amply proved that the art of these monuments is essentially and intensely Celtic; and so the ethnic conclusion is, that the people also were intensely Celtic in spirit and race.

Touching the probable period of these monuments, taking them as a whole, it would be vain to fix on precise dates. But, excepting the rough stones with incised symbols on one side, the entire class of those with crosses probably range from about the middle of the ninth century to the end of the eleventh. Some of the incised stones may be a century or two earlier.

Having indicated the origin and the art of the sculptured stones, the early monuments with inscriptions on them comes in succession. Inscribed monuments of this period are rare in Scotland. Amongst the Celtic people of Britain and Ireland the earliest form of giving visible expression to a fact or event in writing was by using Ogham characters. The Ogham alphabet consisted of numbers of digit-like characters, which were arranged upon a stem line in groups when used on stone monuments, but it was sometimes used on metal work, in manuscripts, and on the wooden staves of the Irish poets. There are upwards of a hundred Ogham inscriptions in Ireland, and twenty-five in Wales, but there are only five examples known on the mainland of Scotland. One on a cross found at Scoonie, in Fifeshire; another on a fragment of a sculptured stone discovered in the churchyard of Aboyne, Aberdeenshire; one at Logie, in the Garioch; one on a stone found at Golspie, in Sutherlandshire, and another on the famous stone at Newton of Insch, Aberdeenshire. In the Orkney and Shetland Islands seven examples have been found, which together gives a total of upwards of one hundred and fifty characters. But the deciphering and reading of these Ogham inscriptions seems to be still beset with great difficulties, mainly owing to the uncertain value of the letters and the extremely archaic forms of the Celtic language in which they were written, and the remote circumstances associated with them.¹

¹ Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Volume II. Notices of the plates, page 6; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume X., pages 133‒141, 602; Brash’s Ogham Inscribed Monuments of the Gaedhil in the British Islands, 1879.

In Iona there are a few monuments with Gaelic inscriptions, but undated. Another Gaelic inscription occurs on a finely decorated cross at St. Vigean’s, in Forfarshire. There are a few early monuments with inscriptions in partially debased Roman letters. One, called the Catstone, at Kirkliston, stands on the south bank of the Almond, in an area which, on examination, was found to be the site of an ancient cemetery. No other monument of this early period is known in Scotland still standing in the midst of its graves. Another inscription of the same class occurs on a rough slab at a spot called Yarrow Kirk in Selkirkshire. In the parish of Stoneykirk, Wigtonshire, there are early monuments with inscriptions in Latin, one of which has been translated thus:—

“Here lies the holy

and excellent priests,

to wit, Viventius

and Maiorius.”¹

¹ Anderson’s Scotland in Early Christian Times, pages 247‒255; Reeves’ ♦Adamnan, page 418.

As the Ogham was the earliest form of writing among the Celtic people of Ireland and Britain, Runic was the earliest form of writing amongst the Teutonic race of Northern Britain. Thus monuments with Runic inscriptions occur in Scotland only in the districts which were colonised by the Norsemen. A few fragments have been found in the Northern Isles, and one complete monument only is known in the Hebrides, which once stood in the church of Kilbar, in the Island of Barra, and is now in the National Museum. It has a cross of Celtic form, and the Runic inscription states that​—“Ur and Thur erected this stone after Raskur, Christ rest his soul.” Though the inscription is Norse, it appears that Celtic art held its ground even when the language failed. The same phenomena has been observed in a group of monuments in the Island of Man, which was the chief site of the Norse kingdom of Man and the Isles from 976 to 1266, and called in the sagas the kingdom of the Sudreys. On a cross at Ruthwell, in Annandale, there are inscriptions in two languages and two alphabets, the one set carved in Runes and the other in Roman capitals.¹

¹ Anderson’s Scotland in Early Christian Times, pages 227‒233; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume XII., page 143, et seq.; The Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys, by Prof. Munch, Christiania, 1860.

Having in this section touched on the architecture of the Brochs, and the indications of culture among the people who erected and occupied them, the remains of early church structures were briefly noticed; and, after describing the round towers of Brechin and Abernethy, I proceeded to treat the Sculptured Stone monuments historically. Indicated the area in which they were found, touched on the origin of the rough stones with the incised symbols, the relative sources of Celtic art, and the special characteristics of the art of the Scotch stone monuments; and indicated the ethnic inference deducible from them, concluding with a reference to Celtic Ogham inscriptions and Runic inscriptions. In order to render the characteristics of early Celtic art in other forms more clear, the opening part of the next section will be devoted to the illustration of it.

Section XII.

Characteristics of Early Celtic Art. Fragments of Early Literature.

The period of native Celtic art stretches back beyond the Christian era, as we have already seen in the prehistoric age; and it seems necessary to indicate the characteristics of this art as exhibited on metal work and other forms, as the culture and civilisation of ♦a people can only be traced and disclosed in its continuity by the historic treatment of the products of the mind and feeling as manifested in the whole circle of their action. Beginning with such objects as reach back to the Bronze Age culture, we may observe the continuous development of this form of decorative art.

A bronze mirror, along with other articles, was found in draining a bog in the parish of Balmaclellan, Kirkcudbrightshire. Its form resembles the mirrors which appear on the sculptured monuments, and the part where the handle is joined to the body of the mirror is concealed by a finely ornamented plate. A massive collar of cast bronze was found in digging a well at Stitchell, Roxburghshire, in 1747; it is jointed, and opens on a hinge in the centre, and fastening in front by a pin and socket. Its ornamentation resembles the double escaping and divergent spirals of the later Celtic art. Closely similar in ornament to this collar is an armlet of thin bronze, found in 1826 in the parish of Borgue, Kirkcudbrightshire. It is ornamented by three raised mouldings, beaten up from the back, and run round it, but concealed on each side of the hinges by two thin plates of bronze, which are ornamented in repoussè trumpet-like ornaments connected by curves. In 1806 a herd boy unearthed a hoard of gold objects on the side of the Shaw Hill in the parish of Kirkurd, Peeblesshire, which consisted of two twisted arm-rings, each weighing eight ounces, a broken ring of a similar form, forty small studs, and a hollow ornament weighing over four ounces. The bullion value of the whole amounted to about £110. The armlets are spirally twisted rods of gold, with flat extremities bent round to encircle the arm. The studs are spiral in form, and marked on the surface with a cruciform ornament in relief. These are a few examples selected out of many others which belong to the early Celtic school of art.¹

¹ Anderson’s Scotland, Iron Age, pages 126, 137, 138.

As the art developed, its leading characteristic was exhibited in metal work with striking effect and beauty. In 1826 a shepherd, when passing along the hillside of Hunterston, six miles from Largs, observed a flattened-like ring of metal partially protruding from the soil, which he picked up. It turned out to be a silver brooch, and a specimen of artistic work in metal which has rarely been surpassed. It is large, measuring about four and a half inches in diameter, and it is elaborately decorated in the Celtic style, and in many of its features resembles the illuminated decorations of the manuscripts of the Gospels. It thus belongs to the art of the early Christian period, and the beauty of its design and decoration is almost equal to that of the best manuscripts. “The skill of its workmanship is such that it is questionable whether it could be greatly surpassed by the most skilful workmanship of the present day. It is only when its details are examined with a magnifying glass that the fitness and beauty of their minutest rendering becomes fully apparent.”¹ A point of much interest connected with this brooch is that it bears on the plain portion of the back the autographs of two of its former owners scratched with a point in the surface of the silver; both the inscriptions belong to the later and more local variety of the Runic alphabet. The inscriptions are simple, mere markings of ownership, and have been read thus: 1, “Maelbritha owns this brooch; 2, Olfriti owns this brooch.”² The first name is Celtic, and both names were common among the mixed population of the Norwegian province of the Western Isles. The forms of the Runes indicate a date about the tenth century, which would agree with the period when Celtic art-workmanship was approaching the point of its highest expression.³

¹ Ibid. Scotland in Early Christian Times, page 3, 1881.

² Various readings of these scratched inscriptions have been given. Their decipherment has been made the subject of several papers​—Finn Magnusen in the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkindyghed og Historie, 1846, pages 323, 399; P. A. Munch in the Memoires de la Sociéte des Antiquaires du Nord, page 202, 1845‒49; Dr. Wilson’s Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, Volume II., pages 267‒277; Professor Dr. George Stephens, in his great work, The Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, has given details of the inscriptions along with a critical discussion. Volume II., pages 589‒599.

³ “The art of the brooch, as I have shown, is Celtic, and the inscriptions are such as would be carved by natives of the restricted area, whose population was partly of Norwegian and partly of Celtic origin.” Scotland in Early Christian Times, page 6.

In 1868, when the Sutherland railway was making through the parish of Rogart, a large earthfast stone was blasted, and in clearing away the rubbish one of the workmen found in the soil underneath the stone a hoard of brooches; and he at once left his work and disappeared. The number of the brooches found, was never ascertained, but two of them subsequently came into the possession of Mr. Macleod of Cadboll, and these two were known as the Cadboll brooches; and in 1888 they were purchased for the National Museum. A third one passed into the hands of the Duke of Sutherland, and is preserved in the museum at Dunrobin. The two now in the National Museum are penannular brooches of silver. The largest one is plated with gold, and measures four and a half inches in diameter, and the pin seven and three-fourth inches in length. The body of the brooch consists of a flattened band of silver, three quarters of an inch in width, and nearly a quarter of an inch in thickness, bent into a circular form and terminating at each extremity in an ornamental expansion of quarterfoil form, and an amber setting fills the centre of the terminal ornaments. Round this setting there is a circular space, enclosed by a plain raised border and quartered by similar partitions, each of which is filled with an interlacing pattern. The four semi-circular spaces surrounding the central circle, and forming the quarterfoils, are also enclosed by plain raised borders, and from each of these spaces there rises, to the height of half an inch, part of the body and neck of a large billed bird. Its eyes are set with green glass, the neck bends gracefully, and the long bill dips into the interior of the enclosed circle. In the middle of the bend of the circular part of the brooch, there is a circular space divided into four segments with a central setting of amber, and segments filled in with interlacing patterns. On each side of the circle there are two birds’ heads similarly placed, and ornamented as those at the extremities of the brooch. The surface of that portion of the ring of the brooch between the central group of the two, and the terminal groups of the four birds’ heads, is divided on each side into four panels filled with interlaced patterns. The pin is loosely attached to the brooch by a large loop open at the back, and the head is an oval expansion covered with interlaced patterns, continued down the front of the pin. The whole of these ornamental details are worked out with great delicacy and the utmost precision. “The brooch presents twenty-one different panels of interlaced work in gold, ten panels occupied by bird’s heads, and twenty-four settings of amber and glass.” The other brooch is smaller and simpler, though of the same class. These brooches present a striking speciality of form and decoration; they exhibit a class of ornamental metal-work not necessarily ecclesiastical in origin or use, but showing designs and patterns similar to the decorative art of the Celtic manuscripts.¹

¹ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume VIII., page 305; Volume XXII., pages 271‒273. Anderson’s Scotland in Early Christian Times, pages 9, 11.

A considerable number of these early Celtic brooches in silver and other metal have been found in Scotland; and many of them are fine specimens of decorative art. There are other articles in silver and bronze which present this art, such as the massive silver chains of double circular links, which show upon their penannular terminal links symbols of a peculiar character, and are sometimes filled with enamel. Five of these chains, belonging to Scotland, are in the National Museum. One found in making the Caledonian Canal in Inverness-shire, consists of sixteen pairs of circular links, and a single link at one end. The links are solid bars of silver, each hammered round and bent circularly till the ends meet. It measured eighteen inches in length, and weighed ninety-two ounces. Another chain of a similar character, formed of rather smaller links, was found at Parkhill, Aberdeenshire. It consisted of twenty-three pairs of circular links, with a terminal link of a peculiar shape; and on the surface of this link there were dots on each side of a curved symbol, which sometimes appears incised on the sculptured monuments. On the opposite side there were triangular sunk spaces and three dots, and the sunk spaces had been filled with red enamel. A chain found at Whitecleuch in the parish of Crawfordjohn, in Lanarkshire, was formed of twenty-two pairs of circular links, with a penannular terminal link, on which there appeared two symbols, often found associated with the decoration of the sculptured monuments.¹

¹ Anderson’s Scotland in Early Christian Times, pages 42‒44.

The Crosier of St. Fillan is an interesting relic of ornamented art, and it has also an exceedingly interesting history.¹ There are many other relics and objects which might be used to illustrate the characteristics of Celtic art; but its central principle and leading features, which were essentially decoration and ornamentation, have now been sufficiently explicated for the purpose and scale of this history.

¹ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume XII., pages 122, 134. Dr. Anderson has treated the relics of St. Fillan in several publications. From the latest of these the following may be quoted:​—“Putting together the several indications gathered from these documents, we find that before the Reformation there were in Glendochart five different relics of St. Fillan, and that in the case of each separate relic the authority of the Church had been unable to prevail against the Celtic usage which had up to that time preserved the lay succession of hereditary Dewars, and which, in the case of the Quigrich, succeeded in preserving it, not only till the Reformation, but down to the time when the Society of Antiquaries succeeded to the keepership of that relic.

“The five relics of St. Fillan, in the possession of their hereditary Dewars, each with a croft of land held by the tenure of the keepership, were as follows:​—1, The Quigrich or Crosier, in the keeping of the Dewar of the Quigrich, who held the lands of Cryetindewer in Eyich. 2, The Bernane, in the keeping of the Dewar Bhernane, who held the lands of Dewar Bhernane’s croft in Suy. 3, The Ferg, in the keeping of the Dewar-na-Ferg, who had Dewar-na-Ferg’s croft in Auchlyne. 4, The Man, or Mayne, in the keeping of Dewar-na-Mayne, who had the Dewar-na-Mayne’s croft at Killin. 5, The Meser, in the keeping of the Dewar de Meser, who had lands, including Coreheynan. The next question that arises is, how far the relics are now capable of being identified.

“The Quigrich is the ornamented head of the Crosier, now in the National Museum.... The Bernane, I think, may be identified as another relic of St. Fillan, also now in the possession of the Society.... The Ferg is quite unknown to me, and I am not prepared to hazard even a guess as to its identity.... The Mayne, according to the analogy of the word, ought to mean the hand, and we can readily conceive the application of this name to a very interesting and highly venerated relic of St. Fillan, viz., the miraculous left hand which he was wont to hold up when writing in the dark, as the servant, who looked through the chink in the door, saw that the left hand afforded a clear and steady light to the right hand.... In all probability the arm of St. Fillan was enshrined, at least as early as the Crosier or the bell; that it was preserved in a case or shrine in the early part of the fourteenth century, we learn from Boece’s account of the miracle which took place in the tent of King Robert the Bruce on the night before the Battle of Bannockburn. There can be no doubt that the relic of St. Fillan, which was at Bannockburn, was not the Crosier or the Bell, but the Mayne or enshrined arm and hand which used to give the miraculous light.... The Meser is not known, except from the single notice of its Dewar in 1468.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume XXIII., pages 115‒118.

Turning to the earliest fragments of literature still preserved, it appears that they issued from Iona. Owing to the position and fame of St. Columba in his own lifetime, some of his many disciples would be ready to record those events of his life calculated to interest his followers and enhance the veneration of his memory. Cummene, son of Ernan, was the seventh Abbot of Iona, and succeeded to the abbacy in 657; and according to the standard of his time, he was a learned and accomplished man. One of his letters in Latin touching the Easter festival is extant; and he also composed in Latin a life of St. Columba. His life of Columba consists of twenty-seven short chapters, which chiefly deal with the miracles performed by Columba or on his account. Several manuscripts of Cummene’s life of Columba exist, and it has been repeatedly printed.¹ After presiding over the community of Iona, and the Columban Church for twelve years, he died in 669.

¹ Mabillon’s Acta Sanctorum ordinis Sancti Benedicti, i. ♦342, from the Compiegne MS.; in Acta Sanctorum, ii. 180, mainly from the Belfort MS; and by Pinkerton in Vitæ Sanctorum Scotiæ.

Adamnan, son of Ronan, was born in Ireland in the year 624; and, in virtue of his birth, claimed kin to St. Columba. On the death of Failbhe in 679, he was elected as ninth Abbot of Iona. Adamnan was the most accomplished of all St. Columba’s successors. He took an active part in all matters relating to the Church in his time. He went to Ireland in 697, where he was engaged in efforts to effect social reform among the people and the clergy; and probably it was at this time, from ♦697 till his return to Iona in 704, that he wrote his Life of Columba. His information for this work was derived partly from written and partly from oral sources. His written materials were Cummene’s Life of St. Columba which he cites by name; he had also another memoir, to which he refers thus​—“Hanc prædictam visionem, non solum, paginis inscriptam reperimus, sed et ab aliquibus expertis senioribus, quibus ipse Virgnous retulerat, sine ullo didicimus cunctamine.” He also refers to poems on the praises of Columba written in the native language, “Scoticæ linguæ” (Gaelic); and other metrical compositions by St. Mura, who died about 645.¹ The narrative of Cummene was transferred almost verbatim, by Adamnan, into his own Life of Columba. The oral source of information available to Adamnan would have consisted of the recollections and reminiscences about Columba then current among his brethren in Iona and in Ireland. Thus he produced a work in complete harmony with the feeling, the spirit, and the thought of his age. He returned from Ireland to Iona in the summer of 704, and died on the 23rd of September, the same year, at the advanced age of seventy-eight.²

¹ Reeves’ Adamnan, pages 17, 237, 318, and Preface pages 5‒7. Among the poems in praise of Columba written in the native tongue, the celebrated Amhra was ascribed to St. Baithene Mor, a contemporary of Columba.

² Reeves’ Adamnan, Appendix to Preface pages 53, 56, 57.

Adamnan’s Life of Columba is somewhat prolix, and its main themes throughout are associated with supposed miraculous and supernatural events and circumstances. Still, incidentally it contains a considerable number of facts of more or less historic value. His account of the last scenes of St. Columba’s life is natural, beautiful, and pathetic. Seeing that the work was written in the latter years of the seventh century or the opening years of the eighth, it has a special value, as being the earliest writing of any length directly connected with Scotland. He was the author of a tract entitled De Locis Sanctis, which is written in a more flowing style than his Life of Columba. Besides these two works, Adamnan is said to have written a Life of St. Patrick; Poems; and some other works. These have not, however, been authoritatively recognised as his productions.

From the number of manuscripts of his life of St. Columba which were spread over the Continent, it appears that the work was highly esteemed, and a considerable number of his writings still exist in various libraries. His Life of Columba has also often been printed.¹ Adamnan was held in great respect while living, and after his death his memory was widely venerated both in Ireland and in Scotland. A number of churches were dedicated to St. Adamnan in Ireland, and in Scotland nine or ten churches were dedicated to his name, among which were Forglen, in the beautiful valley of the Deveron, lying in the lower division of Banffshire; Dalmeny, a parish in Linlithgow, and in Inchkeith; and several wells were called after him. His shrine and relics became objects of extreme veneration, and were latterly preserved in his church of Skreen in Ireland.

¹ Ibid., Preface, pages 8‒10, 12‒30. Adamnan’s Life of Columba was first printed by ♦Canisius in his Antiquæ Lectiones, from a MS. preserved in the monastery of Windberg, in Bavaria, Volume V., pages 559‒621, 1604. This was reprinted in 1624, by Thomas Messingham, an Irish priest, who added titles to the chapters, and a few marginal glosses, together with testimonies of Adamnan and of St. Columba. In 1647, Colgan published it in his great work entitled, Triadis Thaumaturgæ, seu Divorum Patricii Columbæ et Brigidæ, trium ♦Veteris et Majoris Scotiæ seu Hiberniæ sanctorum Insulæ, communium Patronorum Acta, etc. It is inserted in the Bollandists’ Acta Sanctorum; in Pinkerton’s Vitæ Antiquæ Sanctorum, etc.; and Dr. Reeves’ very valuable edition, so often referred to in the preceding pages, contains a vast number of facts and interesting particulars.

A few fragments of writings in Latin have been preserved: such as the Pictish Chronicle, which was compiled about the close of the tenth century, probably by the scribe or ferleiginn of the monastery of Brechin. This short chronicle has been preserved in Latin, which, however, seems to have been translated from a Gaelic original, as Celtic words here and there were left untranslated. It is known that a number of ancient writings existed, which have perished amid the internal and external struggles which subsequently ensued. As already indicated, references to writings in the native language of the people occur, which appear to have consisted of legends and lives of the saints.¹

¹ Chronicles, Preface pages 19‒23; Register of the Priory of St. Andrews; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume III., page 264.

The earliest specimen of Gaelic writing on parchment in Scotland occurs in the Book of Deer, a MS. which originally belonged to one of St. Columba’s monasteries in Buchan, Aberdeenshire. This book contains portions of the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, and the whole of the Gospel of St. John, and the Apostles’ Creed, all in Latin. It is written in one uniform hand, and in a character which has been assigned by the most skilful experts to the ninth century. After the Apostles’ Creed, the scribe who wrote the Gospels adds a colophon in Gaelic which has been translated thus: “Be it on the conscience of every one in whom shall be for grace the booklet with splendour; that he give a blessing on the soul of the wretchock who wrote it.”¹ For two centuries it appears that nothing was added to the original book. The fragment of an office for the visitation of the sick is in a different and a later handwriting. The memoranda written in Gaelic on the blank pages and the margins of the original manuscript belong to a period not later than the eleventh century and the early part of the twelfth. Thus, these memoranda afford a specimen of the written Celtic language of the period, which has been found in its main features to resemble the written Irish of the same age. Although this is the only example of vernacular Celtic now known to exist, still we cannot infer that this was all that Scotland had produced down to the twelfth century; in fact there can be little doubt that in many of the other monasteries similar writings in the vernacular were in use from an early period.

¹ Book of Deer, page 89.

The ferleiginn or man of learning was a prominent official in the monasteries of Ireland, and of those of the west and north-eastern regions of Scotland. The function of this official at first seems to have been mainly limited to the practice and teaching of penmanship; but from about the middle of the tenth century instruction in literature was added to his functions: so that ferleiginn lecturer, meant literally man of learning. This official appears as a member of the monastic community at Turriff, which stands on a fine commanding site near the river Deveron at the northern extremity of Aberdeenshire. It was thus one of the schools of the period. In some other parts of Scotland, the same functionary appears under the name of Scolofthes​—Scolocs; in somewhat later times they appear in connection with several churches which belonged to St. Andrews. Touching the range of the learning of these functionaries there is little definite information.¹

¹ Reeves’ Adamnan, pages 365, 62‒63; Miscellany of the Old Spalding Club, Volume V., Preface, pages 56‒67, et seq.; Book of Deer, Preface, pages 185‒189.

The monasteries of Scotland, however, considered as schools in relation to the people, were not very efficient. Although in certain directions they had an educational influence upon the people which produced results, such as the introduction of letters and a standard of written Gaelic amongst themselves; and what education existed was supplied through the monasteries and the monks; but it does not appear that this written Gaelic was widely or generally taught to the young and rising generations during the period in question. The far greater part of the people were not taught to read at all, and whatever they received as education was imparted orally and retained through the memory. In connection with religious worship and the service of the church the people were fully informed about the lives, the works, and the miracles of the saints, and in this relation their religion still resembled the ancient worship of ancestors. But in relation to industry and art, the teaching and the example of the monastic communities had a marked and beneficial educational influence upon the people.

Legends, stories, and rhymes were common among the people. When writing was little practised and printing unknown, people depended far more upon their memories, and in these circumstances the retention of a few thousands of lines would imply no great stretch of memory. Homer was simply a reciter; he never wrote the immortal work which has been stamped with his name for more than two thousand years. As thought must precede articulate speech and written composition and connected expression in the natural order of development, so oral composition in rhyme and tale have everywhere preceded the forms of written composition. As a matter of fact, there have been several instances in Scotland, in quite recent times, of men who could neither read nor write, and yet they have composed many songs and poems of recognised merit, which, of course, were written down from their diction. Indeed, the greater part of the ballad literature of Scotland has been collected by a somewhat similar process, and also to a large extent the tales and ballad literature of other nations. We may then conclude, that the people of this period had an ample store of oral rhymes, tales, and traditions​—the accumulated accretions of the preceding ages​—which still continue to be orally learned and transmitted from generation to generation, with such additional variations as imagination and circumstances suggested to their minds.

At the close of the eleventh century the Celtic race possessed the whole of Scotland except the Lothians, in the south-east, which was occupied by the Angles. Caithness in the north, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and the Western Islands, which had been colonised by the Norsemen. But the original heat of the Norse movement had begun to cool, and the Celtic race retained their own language in the Western Isles: a considerable number of Norse words, however, occur in these islands. Throughout the regions occupied by the Celtic race there were, no doubt, dialectical variations in the speech of the people in different districts, but they all essentially belonged to one language. In short, the people from the Firth of Forth to Caithness were still essentially of the same race as the tribes who contended with the Roman Legions at Mons Grampius in the year 86 A.D.

I. In conclusion the main points of the seven preceding sections of this Introduction may be recapitulated. New historic conditions arose through the Roman invasion, and their occupation of a portion of the country on the south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde. But the tribes on the north side of the Roman barrier remained unconquered and independent, and the Roman occupation produced no permanent impression upon them. After the departure of the Romans from the island, other migrations and external invasions by different races ensued which created new historic conditions. This resulted in a series of conflicts amongst the different races and tribes which was continued for several centuries.

1. But during this period a new moral power, Christianity, was gradually introduced into the territories of the contending races and tribes, and it affected their subsequent movements in various directions. The new religion tended to draw the tribes more together, and in the direction of greater unity of action and organisation.

2. The natural result of the internal struggle of the different tribes appeared in the foundation of the historic monarchy in 844. The centre and chief seat of the monarchy was on the banks of the Tay at Scone. The gradual extension of the kingdom outward from its centre, and its development, and the affinities and elements of the future nationality, were noted and explained.

II. The social state of the people from the seventh century to the end of the eleventh was treated in detail. After some remarks on the more primitive forms of tribal organisation, and the relation of the tribe to the land, which in very early stages of society was the common property of the tribe alone, the causes which tended to change and modify this condition of society, were then explained. It was shown how individual rights in land had arisen, the tribal organisation in relation to the land, the rights of the heads of tribes to impose taxes on land, and the right of the king to impose a national tax upon all land within his kingdom. The state of agriculture, the herds of cattle, the food, the clothing, and the dwellings of the people, and the origin of markets, were noticed. The custom of paying for all classes of crime, by a scale of fines fixed according to the rank of the injured party, was noticed and explained. Social morality, the relations of the different sexes, customs and forms associated with the institution of marriage, and the efforts of the Church to place marriage on a proper footing, were noticed; the state of the Church, the observance of the Lord’s day, and the efforts of Queen Margaret to reform abuses and minister to the poor.

3. Early architecture was historically treated in relation to the civilisation of the people. The local area in which the remains of the Brochs are found, was pointed out, the structure and characteristics of these singularly peculiar erections were then described, their origin and purpose was touched on, and it was observed that they exhibited a type of structure which was confined to Scotland alone. The traces of the daily life of the occupiers of the Brochs, their culture and civilisation as disclosed by the tools, implements, ornaments, articles, and remains found in and around these structures, were considered; and it was inferred, on sufficient evidence, that they cultivated the land, grew grain, and possessed herds of cattle and sheep, practised the arts of spinning and weaving, and made pottery. From this and other evidence and associated circumstances, it was concluded that the occupiers of the Brochs were the people of the soil, who had been long settled on it, and that they were not a horde who had suddenly effected a lodgment in a hostile country.

4. The early types of church architecture were briefly treated. It was indicated that these types passed through a series of changes and became merged in the architecture of the twelfth century. The round towers of Brechin and Abernethy were described, and their original purpose indicated.

5. The early sculptured stone monuments were treated at some length. Beginning with the undressed stones which present the peculiar symbols incised on them, the local area in which they occur, was pointed out; and it was observed that there was no Christian cross on any of them. From many associated circumstances and other considerations it was inferred that this class of stone monuments existed prior to the introduction of Christianity. After a brief description of some of the symbols, many of the scenes and articles depicted on the elaborate class of the sculptured monuments were treated historically in relation to the life of the people, the weapons, the dress, and the civilisation of the period. The art of the monuments was then briefly handled, and its relation to the art of the illuminated manuscripts, which attained its highest development in Ireland. The ethnic implication associated with the monuments was indicated, and a reference to Ogham and Runic inscriptions on monuments concluded the section.

6. The characteristics of early Celtic art, as exhibited in decorative metal work, was touched on, and the aim and principle of this art shown to consist in elaborate decoration. The literature of the period was then treated, the educational relation of the monasteries to the people, and the oral tales and rhymes current among them. Viewing the condition of the kingdom at the close of the eleventh century, it had reached a stage of political organisation and development which appeared in every way quite vigorous and capable of further progress. The diverse elements of race within the kingdom had long been slowly amalgamating, and barring foreign interference and encroachment these elements only required more time to develop into a complete nationality. The social organisation of the people of this kingdom, their culture, art, and civilisation, had attained to a stage of progress at least equal to anything as yet achieved by the people in the southern division of the island.