Scotland

SCOTLAND. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - It is the northern part of Great Britain, but it preserves a marked individuality of its own, having long constituted a state distinct from the English one and still enjoying a "local government" within the United Kingdom.

Scotland consists of two mountainous masses, separated by a narrow flat belt. The northern mass is in turn distinguished by a first alignment of heights (Highlands), which continues into the Orkney Islands and faces, beyond the Minch Channel, the Hebrides: a barren landscape of moors, alternating with lakes and peat bogs, elevated on average about 900 m. (Ben Attow, 1291 m.), and it is separated by a broader complex of reliefs from the narrow Caledonian Canal. This second mass too (Grampian Mountains; Ben Nevis, 1343 m.) constitutes essentially a harsh and inhospitable region; nevertheless, to the south it opens onto the flat belt (Central Lowlands), less humid and far more fertile, which the sea penetrates deeply (Clyde, Firth of Forth), and in which more than two-thirds of the Scottish population is concentrated. The southern mass (Southern Uplands), less elevated (500 m.) and broad, gives way to wider and deeper valleys, and is closed toward the south by the Cheviot

Hills, which mark the traditional border with England.

Over an area of 77,170 sq km, Scotland has 5,200,000 inhabitants (67 per sq km; but with local variations from 3 in the far north to 450-550 in the industrial districts), whose strong individuality has lost nothing from the union with the neighboring English.

In contrast to the modest importance of agriculture (cereals, potatoes, and fodder) and the more notable importance of livestock raising (cattle), what stands out in Scotland is industrial and commercial development, which is also located, essentially, in the central lowlands, favored by the abundance of raw materials (coal and iron), by the proximity of the sea and by the harbor-rich coasts. This also explains the strong urban concentration (70%) of the population and the fact that the largest population centers are all seaports, with the exception of the capital, Edinburgh (490 thousand souls), which, moreover, is not far from the sea. Glasgow (1 million souls), the third city of the United Kingdom by population, is the metropolis of the Scottish economy, as Edinburgh is that of culture. Aberdeen (190 thousand inhabitants) and Dundee (180) are located on the more favored and more populated eastern face of the Grampians.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. HISTORY

The occupation of Scotland, several times attempted by the Romans, was always temporary and of a military character, so that Roman civilization remained for centuries alien to the customs and traditions of the native tribes. In the 7th century Scotland was divided into five kingdoms: the Picts of Caledonia, the Scots of Dalriada, the Britons of Strathclyde, the Picts of Galloway; Lothian formed part of the English Kingdom of Northumbria.

The Irish monk St. Columba first evangelized the Kingdom of Dalriada, founding a monastery on the island of Iona (563), then converted the Picts of Caledonia, where he established other monasteries of the Celtic type, while Strathclyde too was gradually being evangelized. In the early period the Church of Iona remained attached to Irish usages, but after the Synod of Whitby (664) the majority of the Christian Celts accepted Roman customs and organized themselves into a regular hierarchy (v. IRLANDA, III). Toward the middle of the 9th century, Kenneth MacAlpine, having become king of the Picts and Scots, transferred the relics of St. Columba and the Scottish religious center from Iona to Dunkeld, in the heart of his Kingdom. Under Alexander I, the Norman Turgot was bishop of St. Andrews, and the Irish monks were replaced by English Augustinian canons, while the archbishop of York claimed metropolitan jurisdiction over Scotland. The penetration of the English religious Orders grew under David I. In 1188 Clement III ordered that the nine bishoprics of Scotland should depend directly on the Holy See. Honorius III in 1225 granted the bishops the right to convoke synods and that these should be presided over by one of them. In 1472 Sixtus IV erected St. Andrews into an archbishopric with twelve suffragans; in 1492 the archbishopric of Glasgow was created with four suffragans.

During the Norwegian incursions the kings of England, by means of agreements or by force, imposed their dominion on Scotland; but the northern invasion had the effect of dissolving the Kingdom of Northumbria and incorporating Lothian into Scotland. In the 11th century all of Scotland, with the exception of the lands still occupied by the Norwegians, was united into a single kingdom by Duncan. He was killed by Macbeth, who in turn was killed by Duncan's son, Malcolm III, who recovered the throne with English help. Malcolm sought to oppose William the Conqueror, who forced him by arms to recognize his high sovereignty. In this period many exiled Englishmen took refuge in Scotland, while Malcolm's wife, St. Margaret (who was canonized in 1250), spread English culture in Scotland, strengthened the Roman ecclesiastical system against the Celtic tradition, encouraged the arts and sciences, and exercised an effective moralizing action on the customs of the Scottish Church. Under David I (1124-53) Scotland underwent a peaceful Norman penetration and became a Kingdom of the feudal type, a kingdom that David consolidated and extended, also obtaining the investiture of Northumberland and Cumberland. In 1286, upon the death of Alexander III and shortly afterward of the only descendant, his granddaughter Margaret, who was to have married the prince of Wales, the future Edward II, a long struggle began between two claimants: John Balliol and Robert Bruce. A court of justice designated by Edward I of England recognized Balliol. New revolts and English interventions followed, until, upon the death of Edward I, Robert Bruce defeated the army of Edward II, liberating Scotland. Having allied himself with France, he was recognized by the Pope, and in 1328 the treaty of Northampton consecrated the independence of the Kingdom. But new struggles broke out upon Robert's death, between his son David II and the son of John Balliol, Edward. In 1371, upon the death of David II, the throne passed to Robert II, grandson of the first Robert and son of Walter, steward of Scotland. Thus began the new dynasty of the Stuarts. For many years Scotland was agitated by civil struggles between the Crown and the nobles who leaned on England and on the turbulent Highlanders. In the 15th century Scottish culture made notable progress: however, the religious controversies aroused by the penetration of the doctrines of the Lollards began. James IV (1488-1513) sought to tame the nobility, but was defeated and killed by the English. His successor James V wished to make relations with France closer by marrying Mary of Guise. At his death (1542) the crown passed to his daughter Mary, still a child, while the Kingdom was governed by archbishop David Beaton (nephew of James Beaton and his successor in the archbishopric of Glasgow), whom Paul III created cardinal. Beaton made every effort to halt the Protestant movement and opposed the proposed marriage of Mary to the son of Henry VIII. Mary was sent to France, where she married Francis II. Card. Beaton was killed in 1546 and the killers, having taken refuge in the fortress of St. Andrews, were forced to surrender by a French fleet; one of them, John Knox, fled to Geneva where he embraced Calvinism. When Elizabeth ascended the English throne, while the Catholics regarded Mary, great-granddaughter of Henry VII, as the legitimate queen, the Scottish Protestants united their interests with the English ones; while the armed support that France gave to the regent Mary of Guise allowed Knox to identify Calvinism with the defense of national independence. When Mary of Guise died in 1560, the French militias, threatened by an English intervention, surrendered; a regency of nobles held the government in expectation of Mary's return, while Knox organized the reformed Church on democratic foundations. From this moment the elective General Assembly, which stood at the summit of the Calvinist hierarchy, dominated the entire political life of the country. The Reformation had become so strongly consolidated in Scotland that Mary, having returned there in 1561, was unable to repress it. Mary's followers were defeated, and she took refuge in England, where later (1587) Elizabeth had her executed. After a failed attempt at a Catholic rising in 1579, James VI, Mary's son, who was averse to Scottish Presbyterianism, having become James I of England, imposed the Anglican confession in Scotland. But when his son Charles I wished to replace the nobles with bishops, the latter in 1638 formed a national pact (Covenant) in defense of Presbyterianism. The Scottish revolt initiated the English revolution. After the defeat and execution of Charles I, vainly aided by the earl of Montrose and by the Catholic Highlanders, Cromwell repressed by arms a revival of non-Presbyterian Scottish royalism. The restoration of the Stuarts with Charles II rekindled the religious struggles. The new King showed a certain tolerance toward the Presbyterians, but declared the Covenant abolished and restored the bishops to office. The rebellions that followed were ferociously put down until 1688. After the flight of James II the Catholic and Episcopal officials left Scotland and the Scots restored Calvinism and offered the crown to William of Orange and his wife. The rebellious Highlanders were exterminated. The restoration of Presbyterianism did not, however, restore to the General Assembly the predominance it had previously exercised over the affairs of government. Finally, the economic needs of Scotland and the fact that England was engaged in war with France induced the two States to negotiate their union, which was concluded after long negotiations in 1707. The agreement did not eliminate discontent. Jacobite revolts and vain attempts at restoration followed, ending with the defeat of the pretender Charles Edward at Culloden Moor (1746). The Act of Union of 1707 did not provide for changes in the Presbyterian Church, but when dissenters were authorized to use the Anglican liturgy and the popular election of ministers was abolished, a first secession occurred (1733). About a century later (1843), since the right of heads of families to reject a minister had been annulled, a schism took place, and half of the clergy formed the new Free Church of Scotland. At the end of the nineteenth century, however, the two Presbyterian Churches merged again. The Episcopal Church nevertheless remained distinct, with seven dioceses. The Catholic Church had lost property and organization with the "reformation"; from that moment Scotland again became mission territory and thus passed under the jurisdiction of Propaganda Fide. Leo XII reorganized its ecclesiastical circumscription in 1827, dividing it into three zones: northern, eastern and western. In 1878 Leo XIII, with the bull Ex supremo Apostolatus apice, reconstituted the Scottish Catholic hierarchy, restoring the archbishopric of St. Andrews and Edinburgh with four suffragans, and the archbishopric of Glasgow directly dependent on the Holy See. - See plate VI.

Roberto Palmarocchi