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  Scotland - Our Scotland.  A.D. 80—410. (in many parts) Part 1 It is with the year 80 a.d., when Agricola entered the region of North Britain, that the history of Scotland as a traceable sequence of cause and effect may be said to begin. When the Romans first came in contact with them, the inhabitants of that region had long passed the stage of mere barbarism. Various remains that have been found prove that they had attained considerable knowledge of many of the arts of life ; and from something like direct evidence we know that they possessed an organized society with civil and religious institutions of some complexity. Yet with the knowledge we possess we are unable to trace such causal relations in that earlier time as would bring it within the domain of history in the ordinary acceptation of the word. On the other hand, from the invasion of Agricola onward, materials, however scanty and intermittent, are never wholly wanting to mark the action of the internal and external forces t
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 Paisley part 3 When Walter Fitz Alan settled in Scotland, the condition of the country was very different from what it had been during the lifetime of St. Mirin. Five centuries had passed, and, notwithstanding their periods of anarchy, they had been on the whole centuries of progress. The political aspect of the country was entirely changed. Tribal and racial conflicts had practically ceased, the feudal system had been introduced into the Lowlands, and all political power was centred in the hands of a single ruler. Great changes had also been wrought in the Church. The forms and institutions of the old Celtic faith the faith of Saints Columba and Mirin had passed away.  The country had been divided into sees and parishes; the old communities had been suppressed, and in place of monasteries after the type of Bangor and lona, monasteries similar to those which were then rapidly covering the face of western Europe, were springing up. David the First's activity in this direction is we
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  Paisley part 2 Part 1 -  Scotland Historical: December 2020 Among those whom David I. of Scotland met at the Court of Matilda, when he went to her assistance against Stephen, the English King, were the two brothers, William and Walter Fitz Alan. Along with David and others, they were witnesses to Matilda's charter to Haughmond priory. They were with David at the rout of Winchester, December, 1141, five months after the signing of the Haughmond charter and when David was obliged to retrace his steps to the North, he appears to have invited Walter, the second of the three brothers, to settle in Scotland. Walter accepted the invitation. Among those who accompanied him to Scotland were Simon, his brother -  Robert Montgomery -  son or nephew of the great Earl Roger who built the abbeys of Shrewbury and Wenlock ; the Costentins, who, like himself, were of Breton extraction ; Alexander de Hesting, probably a relative on his mother's side -  Richard Wallace, ancestor of Sir William
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  Paisley Part 1 The Burgh of Paisley is situated in the County of Renfrew, on both sides of the White Cart, about seven miles to the south-west of Glasgow, and from two to three miles to the south of Renfrew, in latitude 55.51 N. and longitude 4.26 W. Of its origin nothing is known.  The Romans had a station on Oakshawhead, where the John Neilson Institution now stands, with outposts on Castlehead and Woodside but the original site of the town was in Seedhill, on the north bank of the White Cart and to the east of the ancient mill. Its original inhabitants were probably Iberians, to whom were subsequently added, either before or immediately after the departure of the Romans, a number of Goidels and Brythons. Its oldest recorded name is Paslet, Passelay, Passelet, Passeleth. The spelling varies at different periods but there is no evidence that the place ever bore any other name than some form of the word " Paisley." Chalmers conjecture that the Romans called it Vanduara rest
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 Annie Wilson & Rosslyn Chapel The foundation of Rosslyn Chapel, known as 'The Chapel amidst the Woods', a few miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland was laid in 1446. Its founder, William St Clair, Earl of Caithness and of Orkney, brought the finest workmen from the Continent to work alongside skilled Scottish craftsmen on the construction of the Chapel.  The Chapel is famed for the profusion of elaborate and luxuriant sculptural stone carving that covers and encrusts almost every part of the building's interior. It has been described as 'one of those architectural wonders whose intricate beauties and peculiarities extort our admiration while they baffle description'. The unique and exuberant stone carving has been compared with exotic cake icing and makes the Chapel a pioneering building in the lavish use of ornament. Most celebrated and outstanding amongst the architectural features is the exquisite workmanship of the Prentice Pillar, one of the internal columns,
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  The Declaration of Arbroath 1320  English Translation To the most Holy Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord John, by divine providence Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and devout sons Duncan, Earl of Fife, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Lord of Man and of Annandale, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, Malise, Earl of Strathearn, Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, William, Earl of Ross, Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney, and William, Earl of Sutherland; Walter, Steward of Scotland, William Soules, Butler of Scotland, James, Lord of Douglas, Roger Mowbray, David, Lord of Brechin, David Graham, Ingram Umfraville, John Menteith, guardian of the earldom of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, Gilbert Hay, Constable of Scotland, Robert Keith, Marischal of Scotland, Henry St Clair, John Graham, David Lindsay, William Oliphant, Patrick Graham, John Fenton, William Abernethy, David Wemyss, William Mushet, Fergus of Ardrossan, Eustace Maxwell, William Ramsay, William Mowat, Alan M
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 Medieval Scottish port This drawing illustrates a typical medieval Scottish port. From the 12th century, trade was on the steady increase. New trading priveleges were granted to burghs by the king, opening up trade to Europe. Local produce could be easily exported in exchange for foreign goods imported to Scottish markets to fulfil an increasing demand for luxuries previously unavailable to Scotland. The number of burghs increased rapidly from the 12th century onwards. Many burghs were along the North Sea coast or on the Firth of Forth - well placed for trade with northern Europe.
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