Norman Impact on Scotland
Why the Wars
King David. 1124-1153. Dabid mac Mail Choluim in the Scots Gaelic. In 1066, William the Conqueror defeated England's King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. His control moved to all parts of the British Isles, more slowly into Scotland, but areas soon showed the influence, including Stirling. David was educated in England, and became a strong proponent of the new Norman ways, including the Reforms of the Roman Catholic Church in the British Isles. See http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Counties_of_Scotland
Thane to sheriff. A difficult transition.
The Norman displaced Celtic forms. The Celtic did not go down easy.
All this displaced the earlier Celtic ways, the tradition, the tribes, the Christians who had followed a more flexible, individualized and a less institutionalized regimentation than had been in effect on the Continent.
Do these changes, from the Celtic to the Norman, explain the antipathy of even Robin Hood in England, at Notttingham, to the sheriff. What did the sheriff represent? We were looking for England sources, and found this Scots one. David founded the continent's big monasteries, all answerable to Rome and not anyone local, or any founding local Christian family. David followed the Norman feudal land-grant system, and where there had been Celtic "thanes" there now emerged Norman "sheriffs" in sheriffdoms, or shires. Think of the Hobbits in their shire. Same thing, is that so?
The border shires, and the eastern coast shires soon came under royal (British-English) control. The western shires took a little longer. By 1305, the list was nearly complete.
After 1305, some larger shires had been subdivided, others merged, and an emerging county system was on its way.
Norse influence waned. By 1266, Norwegian claims to Argyll were erased.
1707 -- Union of Scotland and England. No more sheriffdoms, counties instead. And those, long with a tradition of being inherited as to who is sheriff, were abolished as to inheritability.
Normans in Scotland. Changing the face of culture, introducing bureaucracy, and new forms of land ownership. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/scotland/borders/article_1.shtml
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