EARLY SOURCES OF SCOTTISH HISTORY.* LORD BALFOUR said the other
day in a Gifford Lecture that it was well to know "how slender were the foundations on which most imposing philosophic structures were reared." Mr. Alan Anderson's very valuable new work on the early sources of Scottish history certainly shows how exiguous is the evidence on which ingenious scholars have based their circumstantial histories of Scotland up to, say, the eleventh century. Andrew Lang, at whom the professors look askance, honestly admitted that the evolution of early Scotland must remain obscure, for lack of information, but his rivals have for the most part been less frank and less cautious. Mr. Anderson's scholarly book confirms Lang's opinion. Mr. Anderson, in 1908, produced an excellent compilation of Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers up to the death of Alexander III., and he has now collected all the other early references, from Scottish, Norse, Icelandic, Welsh, Irish, and Continental sources, with a most elaborate commentary which will be indispensable to all serious students. Mr. Anderson arranges the materials chronologically, so that by consulting the two books the reader has before him virtually all that is known in regard to any particular event or period, inasmuch as charter evidence, apart from annals, scarcely exists for the early history of Scotland. As Western Scotland —Dalriada as it was then called—was colonized by Scots from Ireland, and there was close intercourse between the two countries, the Irish annalists are for the first few centuries the best authorities for Scottish affairs and have been carefully studied by Mr. Anderson. They record tersely the inter- minable wars between the Scots and the Picts. Adamnan's charming life of Columba is the one literary masterpiece that relieves the tedium of these dreary chronicles. It is to be noted that all Mr. Anderson's researches throw little new light on the union of the Picts and Scots under Kenneth MacAlpin in 844, which all the text-books glibly describe. The various accounts, however, suggest that Kenneth brought about the " union " by a wholesale slaughter of the Picts, who had already been weakened by defeat at the hands of the Danes.
When the Picts had been disposed of, the Nortlunen became increasingly dangerous both to the Scots and the Irish, and eventually formed settlements in both countries. This was fortunate in many ways, and not least because for the next few centuries the admirable Norse and Icelandic sagas throw much light on Scottish and Irish history. We may draw attention, for instance, to the romantic story of the battle of Vin-heath, in or about the year 926, from Egirs Saga ; it may not be true that Aethelstan with Norse mercenaries defeated a Scottish army, as the saga-writer says, but the episode is most vividly described. Then, again, there is the spirited None account of the battle of Largs in 1263, when Hakon's men landed from their storm-bound ships and fought on the beach with the Norman-Scottish knights and their archers and axemen. The saga-writer does not admit that it was a defeat for Hakon, as the Scots said, but claims, probably with justice, that Hakon achieved his main purpose by re-establishing None dominion over all, or nearly all, the Western isles, from Bute and Arran northwards. The sagas and a few native productions like the English Prior 'rurgot's life of Queen Margaret make the second of Mr. Anderson's massive volumes far more interesting than the first. The true story of Macbeth remains obscure. It is reasonably certain that he had a better claim to the throne than Duncan, whom he slew. Both the rivals claimed descent in the female line from Kenneth MacAlpin, and Gruoch, Macbeth's wife, was a direct descendant of Kenneth. Whether the house of Moray, to which Macbeth belonged, represented the Celtic element in the population as opposed to the Anglicizing tendencies of Duncan and his son must remain uncertain. It is known, however, that Macbeth, after reigning seventeen years, was only overthrown by an English expedition, and that after the victory the English claims to overlordship were pressed with more vigour than before. We have said enough to show that everyone who is interested in early
• Earls, Source* of Scottish History, A.D. boo-izse. Collected and translated by Alan Orr Anderson. 2 Yob. Edinburgh; Oliver and Boyd. 170s. nal Scottish history must consult Mr. Anderson's great work. It is excellently printed and indexed. The Carnegie Trust has done well to assist the author in publishing a book that will be of lasting value.
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