Historical antiquities, in two books the first treating in general of Great-Brettain and Ireland : the second containing particular remarks concerning Cheshire / faithfully collected out of authentick histories, old deeds, records, and evidences, by Sir Peter Leycester, Baronet ; whereunto is annexed a transcript of Doomsday-book, so far as it concerneth Cheshire, taken out of the original record.

CHAP. II.

Of the Original of the Scots in Scotland.

I. FIrst, for the Etymologie of the Name of Scots, it is (as of other Nations round about) full of obscurity. Buchanan (a Man otherwise of deep In∣sight, an excellent Latin Poet, but a bad Statesman) will have Scotland named from Scota a counterfeit Daughter of Pharaoh King of Egypt, wedded, forsooth, to one Gaithelus, Son of Cecrops, Founder of Athens; for which he is justly taxed by Cambden in his Britannia, pag. 85. For no Man skilful in Antiquities can endure such palpable Falsities and Fables. Matthew of Westminster (sub Anno Gratiae 77.) saith, That from the Picts and the Irish, the Scots had their Original, as it were compacted of divers Nations: For Scot (saith he) is a heap made up of several things.

But Learned Cambden supposeth, and proveth, That the Scots inhabited Ireland, and from thence came into Scotland; and that they were originally Scythians: for as from Getae, Getici, Gothi, Gothici; so Scythae, Scythici, Scoti, Scotici, take their derivation. Hibernia propriè Patria Scottorum est, saith Bede. And Henry of Huntington, lib. 1. Hi∣stor. pag. 301. saith, It is certain that the Scots came out of Spain into Ireland, and from Ireland part of them came into Brettaine, and so added a third Nation in Brettaine to the Britons and Picts: For the Part which remained in Ireland, did in Huntington's time use the same Language, and were called Navarri.

II. But for the time when the Name of Scot was first known, there is some questi∣on. Homfrey Lhuid saith, The Name of Scots cannot be found in any Author before the time of Constantine the Great, that is, till about 310 Years after Christ's Birth. Cambden in his Observation tells us, The first mention of the Scots was under Aurelian the Emperor; in his Britannia, pag. 90. And that must be about the Year of Christ 270.

The Nation of the Scots prevailed in Ireland, and began to be famous towards the declining of the Roman Empire.* 1.1 Orosius saith, That in the time of Honorius and Ar∣cadius, Emperors, Ireland was Inhabited with the Scots, about the Year of Christ 400. Whence Claudian the Poet, de Quarto Consulatu Honorii, which was in Anno 398. and lived in the same Age, saith,—

Scottorum cumulos flevit Glacialis Ierne.

And again, in his second Book de Laudibus Stiliconis,

—Totam cùm Scotus Iernam Movit.

There were Scoti Ierni, Irish Scots; and Scoti Albini, Scots of Albin in Scotland. Bu∣chanan, pag. 54. Historians called Ireland, Scotia major; and Scotland in Brettaine, Scotia minor. Cambd. Brit. pag. 90.

III. For the time when these Scots came first out of Ireland into Brettaine, it was about the time of Valentinian the Emperor; for they assisted the Picts in their Wars against the Brettons, then under the Roman Yoke, in that part of Brettaine which is now called England, about Anno Christi 366. So Cambden's Britannia, pag. 55. ex Am∣miano Marcellino. For at this time the Picts, Scots, Saxons, and the Attacotti, did much infest the Brettans. And Claudian the Poet, in his Panegyrick of the fourth Consul∣ship

of Honorius the Emperor, which was in the Year of Christ 398. saith thus:—

Ille, Caledoniis posuit qui Castra Pruinis, Qui medio Libyae sub Casside pertulit aestus, Terribilis Mauro, Debellatorque Britanni Littoris, ac paritèr Boreae vastator, & Austri; Quid rigor aeternus, Coeli quid Sydera prosunt, Ignotúmque fretum? Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades; incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule, Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Hiberne.

And it should seem that the Romans had at this time an Officer called Comes Littoris Saxonici, in Brettaine; who, with the Soldiers allotted him, were to defend the Sea∣coast in Brettaine from the Invasion of the Saxons. And the Scots and Picts were also beaten out of that Part of Brettaine now called England, by Stilico the Chief Gover∣nor of Brettaine under Honorius, who also expelled the Saxons: And the Scots returning back into Ireland, shortly after came again: And the Picts then first, and afterwards, continued in the Northern Parts of Brettaine, yet ceased not to molest the Brettans. Thus Bede, lib. 1. Ecclesiasticae Historiae Anglorum Gentis, cap. 14—Revertuntur ergò im∣pudentes Grassatores Hyberni domum: Post non longum tempus reversuri. Picti in extremà parte Insulae tunc primùm, & deincèps, quieverunt: Praedas tamèn nonnunquàm exindè, & Contritiones de Britonum Gente agere non cessârunt: Which Bede taketh verbatim out of Gildas, cap. 18. fol. 17. b. Now Gildas placeth this after the Brettans had sent their lamentable Letter unto Aetius the Consul, which was sent (saith Bede) Anno Christi 446. Anno Theodosii Secundi, vicesimo tertio: Lib. 1. Hist. cap. 13. [ 446] The substance of the Letter was thus:—Aetio tèr Consuli Gemitus Britannorum.

And so, post pauca,—Repellunt Barbari ad Mare, repellit Mare ad Barbaros: Inter haec duo genera funerum, aut jugulamur, aut mergimur.

Yet for all this, the Romans sent them no Aid at that time; for the Roman Power was now declining.

Now the Computation of Bede is not right, unless we understand it of the 23 Year of Theodosius, after the death of Honorius: And so Bede expresseth himself in the be∣ginning of the Chapter. For Aetius was Consul the first time with Symmachus, Anno Christi 446. And thus the Scots must return about that time into Ireland.

But Cambden saith, Liber Pasletensis casteth the Return of the Scots into the North of Brettaine in Anno Christi 404. Giraldus saith, That in the time of Nellus Magnus, [ 404] Monarch of Ireland, six Sons of Mured King of Ulster possessed the North Parts of Brettaine, whence that Nation was propagated, and called Scotland: And therefore Cambden conceives, it must fall in the Reign of Honorius.

Bede makes mention of Reuda about this time, (Lib. 1. de Hist. Ang. cap. 1.) under whose Conduct the Scots out of Ireland seated themselves in Brettaine, on the North side of the River Cluyd; which they possessed either by force or friendship: from whom they were called Dal-Reudini, that is, The Part of Reuda: And others think, That from this Reuda we gave them the Name of Red-Shanks, saith Cambden. And the Opinion is, That about this time flourished that Simon Brechus, whom the Scots say was the Founder of their Nation. Sinbrech is the true name of the Man: Sin signifies Pimples, or Freckles, ut apud Fordonum legitur. Perhaps this was the Brichus who in the time of St. Patrick, with Thuibaius, Macleius, and Auspacus, Scotchmen, vexed Bret∣taine, as we read in the Life of St. Carantocus.

But why did the Scots call their Countrey in Brettaine, Alban, or Albin; and the Irish call it Allabany? Cambden supposeth from Banno, by which Name their Poets call Ireland; as it were another Ireland. Buchanan saith, That Alpum and Album (from whence comes Albin) is an ancient word for a Hill; and that upon the Sea between Ireland and Scotland, the Shore of Scotland seems to rise up into Mountains, and so gained the Name of Albin. Hist. Scot. lib. 1. pag. 12, 13.

But when the Scots came unto the Picts in Brettaine, though they ever and anon did make War and Excursions upon the Brettans, yet did they not advance very soon, but lived in that Angle where they first arrived. They continually warred against the Kings of Northumberland, for the space of 127 Years; till Edan King of the Scots, and his Army, were totally routed by Ethelfrid King of Northumberland, Anno Domini 603. Bede de Hist. Ang. lib. 1. cap. 34.

And when the Picts were almost rooted out, and the Kingdom of the Northumbrians, through Civil Discords and Incursions of the Danes,* 1.2 fell to decay; then was all the North part of Brettaine called Scotland, from Cluyd and Edenborough-Frith: And on this side Cluyd and Edenborough-Frith, was part of the Kingdom of Northumberland, and possessed by the Saxons, as every man knows. But at this day Scotland is divided from England by the Rivers Tweed and Solway: And hence it is, that all those who possess the East part of Scotland, and are called Lowland-men, are descended of the English Saxons, and speak the English Tongue; and those that inhabit the Western Coast of Scotland, called Highlanders, be descended from the Scots, and speak Irish, and are maliciously bent towards the Lowland-men who speak English.

II. The People of the Scots have been noted of their best Writers for some bar∣barous Customs; one whereof was, If any two were displeased, they expected no Law, but banged it out bravely, one, and his Kindred, against the other, and his Kindred. This Fighting they called their Feids. These deadly Feids King James the Sixth, in his Basilicon Doron, adviseth his Son to redress with all care possible: But it pleased God to give this King so long a Life, as to see it remedied in his own days: An Act indeed truly Royal, and worthy himself. Dr. Heylyn's Cosmography, pag. 331.

Another Custom they had of a strange nature, never was the like heard of among the Heathens; That the Kings of Scotland should have the Maidenhead, or first Nights Lodging with every Woman, who was to be married to a Husband that held Land immediately from the Crown; and the Lords and Gentlemen should have the like of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers: And this was by a Law made by Eugenius a lascivious Prince of Scotland. But this Custom, in the time of Malcolme the Third, sirnamed Cammoir, was made redeemable for half a Mark of Sil∣ver, [ 1070] about the Year 1070. which Pension the Scots at this day call The Marchet of the Women. Buchanan, lib. 7. pag. 214. The reason of the Name, Skene, in his Interpre∣tation of Old Words, thinks to come from March, which in the Ancient Scotch Lan∣guage signifies A Horse; and so metaphorically denotes a Pension for the Leaping of a Woman, ascendere Mulierem. Spelman in his Glossary saith, That Merch in the ancient Language of the Brettans signifies a Daughter, or Woman-Sex; and so denotes a Pension for a Woman's Marriage, to the Lord or King.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Orosius, lib. 1. cap. 2. pag. 19.
• * 1.2

  About the Year 800.