Bishops' Wars (1638-1640)

Bishops’ Wars happened between 1639 to 1640 that were fought between Charles I and the Scots. The wars were due to Charles’s endeavour to enforce Anglican observances in the Scottish Church and of the determination of the Scots to abolish episcopacy in order to harmonies the two churches of England and Scotland.

Charles I attempted to impose uniform practices on the kirk (Church of Scotland) and the Church of England in 1637. These were opposed by most Scots, who supported a Presbyterian church governed by ministers and elders.

Those opposed to these changes in Scotland, known as Covenanters, rose up and defeated Charles I's troops in the Bishops' War. After the implementation of the Scottish National Covenant against the King's reforms in 1638, the Covenanters became the dominant political and religious force in Scotland.

Determined to assert his authority, the King formulated an ambitious military campaign against the Covenanters. The King planned an ambitious campaign: he would raise an army of 20,000 men to attack Edinburgh, the Earl of Antrim would invade western Scotland with troops from Ireland while the Marquis of Hamilton would command a naval expedition to land troops behind enemy lines on the east coast.

His plans were thwarted by lack of funds, by lack of support for the war among his subjects and by lack of experience among his commanders.

On May 30 Covenanter troops occupy Kelso near the border with England. While in Jun 03, the English cavalry retreats from Kelso; collapse of morale in the King's army.

After the Covenanters took control of government following the 1639 war, the Scottish Parliament passed a series of acts that amounted to a constitutional revolution.

In order to protect that settlement, the Scots allied with sympathizers in Ireland and England, chiefly Puritans who objected to recent religious reforms, and wanted elections for a new Parliament of England, suspended since 1629.

In 1640, King Charles attempted a second campaign against the Scots, but once again, the army he raised was inadequate. War broke out again, and the Covenanters were again victorious over the half-hearted and badly-paid English army. They invaded England as far as Newcastle. By the terms of the peace in October 1640 Charles I had to pay the Covenanter army £850 a day until they left England.
Bishops' Wars (1638-1640)

General history of Scotland

Vikings were accomplished seamen at this point in history, and around 800 AD they began migrating from Norway and Denmark, crossing the treacherous North Sea to trade and settle in Scotland.

The Gaels gave Scotland its name from 'Scoti', a racially derogatory term used by the Romans to describe the Gaelic-speaking 'pirates' who raided Britannia in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Scotland begins in the 1st century AD when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans added southern Britain to their empire as the province Britannia. They were unable, however, to subdue the fierce tribes in the north. To keep these tribes from invading Britannia, Emperor Hadrian had a massive wall built across the island from sea to sea.

The Romans called the tribes of the north 'Caledoni' and named their land Caledonia. The name Caledonia has often been applied to Scotland, especially in poetry. The Picts, known as the 'painted people' were one of the Celtic tribes who inhabited Scotland.

In the 5th century Celtic immigrants from Ireland, called Scots, settled north of the Clyde. After the Normans conquered England in 1066, many Anglo-Saxons from England settled in the Lowlands of Scotland. Here the Scots gradually adopted English ways. Feudalism was established, and the chiefs of the clans became nobles. Towns grew, trade increased, and Scotland prospered.

The medieval period saw the gradual expansion of the Scottish kingdom, as kings and queens came and went at a steady pace. The best known early Scottish king, Macbeth, was killed in battle in 1057, and the Kingdom of Alba became a feudal society by the 12th century. The Treaty of Falaise, signed by William I, ushered in a period of relative peace in Scotland.

In 1296, Edward I invaded Scotland, massacring the townspeople of Berwick and stripping the Scottish King John Balliol of his arms of Scotland. In response, in 1297 the Scottish Knight William Wallace and Esquire Andrew Moray raised an army of Scots and on 11 September 1297 inflicted a decisive defeat over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

In the later Middle Ages, Scotland suffered from weak kings and powerful nobles. For two centuries there was a constant struggle between the Crown and the barons. Border clashes with England also continued.

The age-old rivalry between Scotland and England ended formally in 1707 when the parliaments of both nations agreed to the Act of Union. This act merged the parliaments of the two countries and established the Kingdom of Great Britain.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Scotland was part of the one of the greatest intellectual and scientific outpourings ever recorded. The Age of Enlightenment saw Scottish thinkers and artists – the likes of Robert Burns, William Adam, Sir Walter Scott and Adam Smith – transform the way the Scotts see and understand the world
General history of Scotland

Kingdom of Alba (900 – 1286 AD)

Alba, the kingdom formed by the union of the Picts and Scots under Kenneth I MacAlpin in 843. Their territory, ranging from modern Argyll and Bute to Caithness, across much of southern and central Scotland, was one of the few areas in the British Isles to withstand the invasions of the Vikings.

As a result of settlement on the west coast of Alba by the Scoti, the area became known as Scotia Minor. This distinction remained until the Eleventh Century when there was a re-emergence of the name Eire. Alba claimed the name Scotia; Land of the Scoti, to itself.

MacAlpin came to power after a desperate battle against the Vikings in 839 that created a succession crisis. The King of Fortrui, Uen,his brother Bran, Áed mac Boanta and others were killed. MacAlpin promptly killed three other rivals to start his reign in 843, and a fourth in 848.

MacAlpin’s legacy was a royal dynasty that defined the Kingdom of Alba as a territorial precursor to modern Scotland. When his grandson Constantine II (see right) was crowned on the Stone of Destiny, he took the title “King of Alba”.

The Kingdom of Alba, a name which first appears in Constantine's lifetime, was situated in modern-day Scotland. Constantine's grandfather Kenneth I of Scotland (Cináed mac Ailpín) was the first of the family recorded as a king, but as king of the Picts. This change of title, from king of the Picts to king of Alba, is part of a broader transformation of Pictland and the origins of the Kingdom of Alba are traced to Constantine's lifetime. Constantine was succeeded by a cousin, Malcolm I.

Kingdom of Alba (900 – 1286 AD)

Definition of United Kingdom

The name Great Britain refers to an island, the largest in the archipelago. It includes the greater part of the kingdoms of England and Scotland and the principality of Wales. The proper name for Great Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The effective union of the principality of Wales with the Kingdom of England dates back to 1302 when King Edward I was created Prince of Wales although Wales was not enfranchised until sixteenth century.

The term ‘Great Britain’ was occasionally used from about 1604 after James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England.

The Kingdom of Great Britain formed on 1 may 1707 when the kingdoms of England (comprising modern-day England and Wales) and Scotland were merged.

Subsequently, on January 1, 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain united with the neighboring Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

When five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922 (Irish independence on 6 December 1922), the state was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

While the United Kingdom is the internationally recognized sovereign nation, within the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regarded as entities in their own right and they have separate membership or representation in some international organizations.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated in northwest Europe and has a population of 63.7 million living on a land area of 243,610 square kilometers.
Definition of United Kingdom