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Below is a list of events through history that
were influential in the way Scottish Clans
gained or lost their power.
1018, victory for King Malcolm II of
Scotland at the Battle of Carham (Northern
England) against the Northern English, defined
the Kingdom of Scotland’s borders to
roughly what is seen today. The Scots made a
few attempts over the following years to
capture lands in Northern England, but failed
to hold on to them.
1263 1st October, the forces of King
Alexander III of Scotland defeats the forces of
the Norwegian King Haakon at the Battle of
Largs. The Vikings had been raiding the Western
Isles and west coast of Scotland for over 400
years. The Battle of Largs led to the Vikings
withdrawing from Scotland over the following
years.
1286, the death of King Alexander III of
Scotland, and that of his sole heir the four
year old Princess Margaret (Maid of Norway)
four years later, led to the mighty English
King Edward I (Longshanks) sending his forces
into Scotland with a view of gaining control
for himself.
1292, John Balliol chosen by the Scottish
Nobles as their King, began his unsuccessful
quest to remove the English from Scotland.
Edward imprisoned Balliol in the Tower of
London until his release in 1299. Balliol then
moved to France, where he lived on his estate
until his death.
1297 11th September, William Wallace lead
15,000 Scottish rebels against an English army,
50,000 strong, on route to Stirling Castle, at
Stirling Bridge. Wallace’s victory saw
him rewarded with the title Guardian of
Scotland.
1298, William Wallace’s army is
crushed by a massif English army led by Edward
I at Falkirk. Wallace escaped with his life
only to be captured at Glasgow August 5th 1305,
and executed in London August 23rd 1305.
1314 June 23rd, a Scottish army led by
Robert the Bruce confronts an English army led
by King Edward II (son of Edward 1 who died in
July 1307) at Bannockburn, Stirlingshire.
Bruce’s victory saw the English flee
towards their strongholds, and eventually out
of Scotland altogether. After a further 14
years of war, the treaty of Edinburgh was
signed March 17th 1328, this allowing Bruce to
become king of an independent Scotland. Bruce
died at Cardross, probably from leprosy June
7th 1329.
1371, the death of Bruce’s son David
II without leaving an heir, led to the crowning
of Robert the Bruce’s grandson Robert II
(Stewart) this beginning the house of Stuart
that eventually ruled Scotland and England.
1488, the unpopular King James III (Stuart)
is killed at the battle of Sauchieburn by the
army of his son James, who became King James
IV.
1513 9th September, Battle of Flodden Moor,
Northuberland England, between the armies of
James IV (Stuart) of Scotland, and King Henry
VIII (Tudor) of England. Henry provoked the
Scottish attack, as his forces had been
plundering Scottish ships travelling between
Scotland and France. Scotland’s losses in
the battle were high, including the king
himself, and many nobles.
1530s, King Henry VIII of England (Tudor)
steers England towards Protestantism. The
German monk Martin Luther, had views that the
Christian Catholic religion, centred on the
Pope in Rome, should be reformed.
Luther’s preaching’s lead to the
split of the Christian religion into Catholic
and Protestant. The Protestant religion
appealed to Henry as, money raised by English
churches would then go to him instead of the
Pope. Other advantages of Protestantism were,
divorce was then legal, and clerics could
marry. Hundreds of thousands of British died,
and were forced to emigrate over the following
two century’s, fighting over the two
religions.
1542, King James V (Stuart) of Scotland,
died one week after the birth of his sole heir
Mary. The death of James V, lead to Henry VIII
of England sending troops into Scotland on
raids. These raids were to put pressure on the
Scots to have Mary married to his son Edward.
Mary was moved to France for her safety in
1548. She eventually married a French prince
and became Queen of France. After the death of
her husband, followed by the death of her
mother in 1560, who had been leading Scotland
in her absence, Mary returned to Scotland where
she took on the title Mary Queen of Scots.
These were dangerous times, as Scotland and
England were at that time, torn between the
Catholic and Protestant religions. Catholics in
Scotland, England and France, claimed the
protestant Queen Elizabeth I (Tudor) of England
since 1558, should be replaced by the catholic
Mary, who had claims to the English throne, as
she was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor.
Battles that raged at that time, ended with
Mary imprisoned by Elizabeth’s forces,
and eventually executed in 1587. In a twist of
fate, the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603
without leaving an heir, saw Mary Queen of
Scots son James VI of Scotland, declared King
of England and Scotland.
1642, Charles I (Stuart) of England &
Scotland, finds himself embroiled in the
English Civil War. His attempts to force a new
prayer book on the Scots, and take little
notice of the English Parliament, led to the
war. The parliamentarians (Roundheads) led by
Oliver Cromwell, eventually defeated the
Monarchy (Cavaliers) in 1649, Charles was
beheaded soon after. Cromwell then ruled
England & Scotland as Lord Protector until
his death in 1658. The death of
Cromwell’s son the following year, saw
the Stuart’s returned to the throne.
1560, the Scottish Parliament passed an Act,
abolishing the Roman Catholic Church within the
realm, this seeing most of the Abbey's in
Scotland destroyed, and their stonework carried
of for the construction of other buildings.
1707, Queen Anne (Stuart) presides over the
Union of the parliaments of Scotland and
England. The parliaments then become known as
the Parliament of Great Britain.
1714, the death of the protestant Queen Anne
(Stuart) without leaving an heir, lead to
George I (Hanover) taking over the throne of
Great Britain. This was a last request of Queen
Anne to stop her exiled Catholic brother, James
the old Pretender, from gaining control. George
was the son of the Electress Sophia of Hanover
/Germany, who was a granddaughter of King James
I of England. With George being a protestant
German chosen before decendants of the catholic
Stuart’s, that had a greater claim to the
throne, the Stuart’s began disputing his
right to be king.
1715, the sixth Earl of Mar (John Erskin)
declared himself for James Francis Stuart (the
Old Pretender) and set out with his forces in
an attempt to meet up with English forces also
inspired to have King George I overthrown in
favour of James Stuart. That attempt, scuppered
by Hanoverian supporters, became known as the
first Jacobite Rising.
1719, Battle of Glenshiel ends with another
defeat of the Jacobites by the Hanovarians.
1745 September 19th, Battle of Prestonpans,
led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie
Prince Charlie) defeats Sir John Cope to
achieve the first Jacobite victory.
1746 January 17th, Jacobites defeat English
government troops at Falkirk.
1746 April 16th, the Battle of Culloden Moor
near Inverness, ends within one hour with the
defeat of the Jacobites, and the fleeing of
Bonnie Prince Charlie to France. This was the
last major battle on the British Isles.
1837-1901, Queen Victoria (Hanover) rules
Britain with her offspring marrying throughout
Europe. Her marriage to Prince Albert (son of
Ernest Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha,
Germany) results in a family of 9 children and
40 grandchildren. The first child, Victoria
Adelaide, married Frederick III, German
Emperor, with their son becoming Kaiser Wilhelm
II, World War I era. Their second child, Edward
VII, ruled Britain under his fathers title
Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, with his son becoming
George V of Britain, World War I era. Their
third child, Princess Alice, married the German
Louis IV of Hesse, Grand Duke, with their
daughter Princess Alexandria marrying Csar
Nicholas II of Russia, World War I era.
1917, in the midst of World War One, King
George V of Britain adopts the name House of
Windsor for the royalty, this distancing them
from their German relations. As the war came to
an end, George’s cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II
of Germany, was forced to abdicate and move to
Holland. George’s other cousin, Czar
Nicholas II of Russia, was forced to abdicate
in 1917 by the Bolshevik Revolution. The Czar,
Princess Alexandria and their family, were shot
by the Bolshevik’s July 16th 1918. The
House of Windsor survived the war to go on as
Britain’s monarchs into the 21st
Century.
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