In Focus - Discover Scotland: Experience the Best of Scotland - page 602

Christianity & St Columba
After the Romans left Britain there were at least two indigenous peoples in the northern
region of the British Isles: the Picts in the north and east, and the Britons in the southwest.
The Scots probably arrived around 500AD, crossing to Argyll from Northern Ireland and
establishing a kingdom called Dalriada.
In the 6th century St Columba, Scotland's most famous missionary, arrived in Scotland.
According to legend, Columba was a scholar and a soldier-priest who fled Ireland in 563
and established a monastery on Iona. After his death he was credited with miraculous
feats such as defeating what is today known as the Loch Ness monster.
Kingdom of the Scots
The Picts and Scots were drawn together by the threat of a Norse invasion and by the
combination of political and spiritual power from their common Christianity. Kenneth
MacAlpin, first king of a united Scotland, achieved power using a mixture of blood ties
and diplomacy. He set his capital in Pictland at Scone, and brought to it the sacred Stone
of Destiny, used in the coronation of Scottish kings.
Nearly two centuries later, MacAlpin's great-great-great-grandson, Malcolm II (r
1005-18), defeated the Northumbrian Angles led by King Canute. This victory brought
Edinburgh and Lothian under Scottish control and extended Scottish territory as far south
as the Tweed.
With his Saxon queen, Margaret, Malcolm III Canmore (r 1058-93) - whose father
Duncan was murdered by Macbeth (as described in Shakespeare's eponymous play) -
founded a dynasty of able Scottish rulers. They introduced new Anglo-Norman systems of
government and religious foundations.
Robert the Bruce & William Wallace
The year 1286 saw a dispute over the succession to the Scottish throne between Robert de
Brus, lord of Annandale, and John Balliol, lord of Galloway. Edward I of England, as the
greatest feudal lord in Britain, was asked to arbitrate. He chose Balliol, whom he thought
he could manipulate more easily.
Seeking to tighten his feudal grip on Scotland, Edward - known as the ' Hammer of the
Scots' - treated the Scots king as his vassal rather than his equal. The humiliated Balliol