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A detailed examination of the interactions between individuals and their wider social experiences is the primary aim of this thesis. It is intended that such an investigation will present a picture of local society within which the ties between individuals and families are more multi-faceted than a strict feudal presentation of society would allow. This formulation takes into account a number of components and involves the important consideration of religious patronage as an indicator of local attachments. The investigation of the social role of religious patronage, including consideration of personal motivation and the politics of choice, will be the subject of two chapters and will provide an important indication of the strength of local attachments and social ties. The main theme throughout this work will be that the development of local society involved the integration of a number of social groups within a framework provided by relatively clear geographical boundaries. This thesis thus aims to portray the main characteristics of local society in more three dimensional terms than have been previously attempted, by approaching the subject from a number of different angles. The thesis will accordingly elaborate the existing picture of Scottish society, through the movement of discussion away from the narrow confines of superior lordship.

This thesis seeks to examine the Europeanizing themes of the spread of charters, the adoption of common European names and the interaction of the chivalric ‘aristocratic diaspora’ with local landholding society through the methodology of prosopography. The role of aristocratic landholders as grantor, witnesses and recipients of charters was studied, based on an analysis of the texts of over 1500 aristocratic, royal and ecclesiastical documents relating to Scotland north of Forth, dating from circa 1100 to circa 1260. The Appendix is a list of all non-royal, non-ecclesiastical (or ‘private’) charters, agreements, brieves and similar documents, catalogued herein for the first time. The results of this study are two-fold. First, the thesis involves a degree of reappraisal, in which phenomena which were seen previously as pertaining to either ‘native’ or ‘Norman’ trends are instead examined as part of a single Scottish society. Second, this thesis offers several new findings based on the prosopographical analysis of the charter material, which help to hone our understanding for how Europeanization worked in Scotland. It is now clear that, while the adoption of charters should certainly be seen as a Europeanizing trend, their use by aristocratic landholders followed several stages, none of which adhered to any ethnic bias. This study reveals the prominence of networks in spreading charter use, including one focused around Countess Ada and other related countesses, in the early stages of aristocratic charter use. Furthermore, the important component of Europeanization, whereby ‘peripheral’ peoples took up common European personal names, can be qualified in the case of Scotland north of Forth, where the society was already characterised by a diverse intermixing of Gaelic, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon names, and where certain Gaelic names were not only maintained by ‘native’ families, but also adopted by immigrant knights. This thesis shows that the practice of using personal names as evidence for ethnicity does not hold up to close scrutiny. Moreover, the aristocratic diaspora for Scottish earls was a two-way street, and some earls and other Scottish nobles married into some of the most powerful families in western Europe. On the other hand, immigration of knights into Scotland north of Forth resulted in the creation of a new baronial class, one which also incorporated various types of ‘native’ Scottish landholder. Indeed, even in regions like the Mearns, where the king had a free hand, landholding was balanced between local and immigrant families. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, this study has verified that the notion that Scotland had ‘no institutionalised apartheid’ was not merely a legal technicality, but a fundamental characteristic of the society. Landholding patterns reveal no evidence of ethnic separation; neither does analysis of assemblies, courts, civil legal proceedings and processes of perambulation. Instead, power was exercised by a diverse aristocratic class. The nature of Europeanization in Scotland is distinct and special, and serves as a fascinating case study of an aristocratic society that was transformed, but in some ways on its own terms.

This thesis sets out to investigate the activities of Edward I and his officials in Scotland during the period from the conquest of 1296 up until the settlement of September/October 1305. To this end, the administration established by the English king in 1296 is discussed to provide a starting-point from which to assess the events of the following decade. Following the renewal of the war in 1297, the investigation centres primarily on the activities of the English garrisons in Scotland in order to establish where, and to what extent, Edward could describe himself as ruler of Scotland. The campaigns of 1297, 1298, 1300, 1301 and 1303-4 form a necessary part of that investigation as the English sought to expand and consolidate their hold in south-west Scotland particularly. As a complement to the above, the administration of Scotland outwith English control - for which there is very little direct evidence - is also considered, as is the role of the fleet, vital to the survival of Edward's garrisons. The role of these garrisons - which defined the limit and extent of the English administration - is of such importance that an account is then given of the history of each castle held for Edward, however briefly. The final section of the thesis describes Edward's second settlement of Scotland. Between the submission of the Guardian in February 1304 and the ordinances of September 1305, the king devoted much time and energy to his Scottish subjects: a large number of disputes resulting from the war, largely concerned with lands and property, required to be decided and a new administrative system palatable both to Edward and the Scottish nobility to be worked out. This activity thus reflects the problems of the previous decade and the lessons learned from them.

This inter-disciplinary thesis addresses the long term continuity and change found in representations of Scottish royal authority through state ceremonial bridging the gap between medieval and early modern across four centuries. Royal ceremony in Scotland has received very haphazard research to date, with few attempts to draw comparisons that explore how these crucial moments for the representation of royal authority developed over the course of a number of centuries. Three key royal ceremonies – inaugurations/coronations, funerals and weddings (with consort coronations) – form the core of this study of the Scottish monarchy from c.1214 to c.1603, and were chosen due to their integral position in the reign of each monarch. The issues of succession and security of hereditary monarchy dictate that the ceremonies of death and accession are inescapably intertwined, and funerals and coronations have been studied in unison together for other European comparators. However, the frequency of minor accessions, early and violent deaths, absentee kingship and political upheaval in Scotland across the time period determined from an early stage that weddings – often the first occasion for Scottish monarchs to project their personal adult authority and the point at which Scotland had the widest European audience for their display – were essential to forming a rounded view of developments. By offering a detailed analysis of these ceremonial developments across time, this study will provide the framework from which further research into royal ceremony and its place as essential platform for the dissemination of royal power can be undertaken. The thesis focuses upon key questions to illuminate the developments of these ceremonies as both reflectors of a distinct Scottish royal identity and representative of their integration within a broader European language of ceremony. How did these ceremonies reflect the ideals of Scottish kingship? How were they shaped to function within the parameters of Scottish governance and traditions? How was the Scottish crown influenced by other monarchies and the papacy? How did it hope to be perceived by the wider European community and how was royal power exercised over its subjects in this transitional period of Scottish history? The focus upon Scotland’s visual forays on the international stage and varied relations with European actors has required a continual comparison with other European countries across this time period, with particular attention being paid to England, France, Ireland and the Low Countries. Within the context of a highly public and interactive era of display and posturing by great leaders across Europe, crucial points this thesis engages with include: what made the Scottish ceremonies unique? And how can this further our understanding of that which lay beneath such representations of royal authority?