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LOTHIAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 19 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOTHIAN . This name was formerly applied to a considerably larger extent of See also:

country than the three counties of See also:Linlithgow, See also:Edinburgh and See also:Haddington. See also:Roxburghshire and See also:Berwickshire at all events were included in it, probably also the upper See also:part of See also:Tweeddale (at least See also:Selkirk). It would thus embrace the eastern part of the Lowlands from the Forth to the Cheviots, i.e. all the See also:English part of See also:Scotland in the 11th See also:century. This region formed from the 7th century onward part of the kingdoms of See also:Bernicia and See also:Northumbria, though we have no definite See also:information as to the date or events by which it came into English hands. In See also:Roman times, according to See also:Ptolemy, it was occupied by a See also:people called Otadini, whose name is thought to have been preserved in Manaw Gododin, the See also:home of the See also:British See also:king Cunedda before he migrated to See also:North See also:Wales. There is no See also:reason to doubt that the See also:district remained in Welsh hands until towards the See also:close of the 6th century; for in the Historia Brittonum the Bernician king See also:Theodoric, whose traditional date is 572-579, is said to have been engaged in See also:war with four Welsh See also:kings. One of these was Rhydderch See also:Hen who, as we know from See also:Adamnan, reigned at See also:Dumbarton, while another named Urien is said to have besieged Theodoric in Lindisfarne. If this statement is to be believed it is hardly likely that the English had by this See also:time obtained a See also:firm footing beyond the See also:Tweed. At all events there can be little doubt that the whole region was conquered within the next fifty years. Most probably the greater part of it was conquered by the Northumbrian king 2Ethelfrith, who, according to See also:Bede, ravaged the territory of the Britons more often than any other English king, in some places reducing the natives to. dependence, in others exterminating them and replacing them by English settlers. In the time of Oswic the English See also:element became predominant in See also:northern See also:Britain.

His supremacy was acknowledged both by the Welsh in the western Lowlands and by the Scots in See also:

Argyllshire. On the See also:death of the Pictish king Talorgan, the son of his See also:brother Eanfrith, he seems to have obtained the See also:sovereignty over a considerable part of that nation also. See also:Early in See also:Ecgfrith's reign an See also:attempt at revolt on the part of the Picts proved unsuccessful. We hear at this time also of the See also:establishment of an English bishopric at See also:Abercorn, which, however, only lasted for a few years. By the disastrous overthrow of Ecgfrith in 685 the Picts, Scots and some of the Britons also recovered their See also:independence. Yet we find a See also:succession of English bishops at See also:Whithorn from 730 to the 9th century, from which it may be inferred that the See also:south-See also:west See also:coast had already by this time become English. The Northumbrian dominions were again enlarged by Eadberht, who in 750 is said to have annexed Kyle, the central part of See also:Ayrshire, with other districts. In See also:conjunction with cEngus mac Fergus, king of the Picts, he also reduced thewhole of the Britons to submission in 756. But this subjugation was not lasting, and the British See also:kingdom, though now reduced to the See also:basin of the See also:Clyde, whence its inhabitants are known as See also:Strathclyde Britons, continued to exist for nearly three centuries. After Eadberht's time we hear little of events in the northern part of Northumbria, and there is some reason for suspecting that English See also:influence in the south-west began to decline before See also:long, as our See also:list of bishops of Whithorn ceases early in the 9th century; the See also:evidence on this point, however, is not so decisive as is commonly stated. About 844 an important revolution took See also:place among the Picts. The See also:throne was acquired by See also:Kenneth mac Alpin, a See also:prince of Scottish See also:family, who soon became formidable to the Northumbrians.

He is said to have invaded " Saxonia " six times, and to have burnt See also:

Dunbar and See also:Melrose. After the disastrous See also:battle at See also:York in 867 the Northumbrians were weakened by the loss of the See also:southern part of their territories, and between 883 and 889 the whole country as far as Lindisfarne was ravaged by the Scots. In 919, however, we find their See also:leader See also:Aldred calling in See also:Constantine II., king of the Scots, to help them. A few years later together with Constantine and the Britons they acknowledged the supremacy of See also:Edward the See also:Elder. After his death, however, both the Scots and the Britons were for a time in See also:alliance with the Norwegians from See also:Ireland, and consequently iEthelstan is said to have ravaged a large portion of the Scottish king's territories in 934. Brunanburh, where iEthelstan defeated the confederates in 937, is believed by many to have been in See also:Dumfriesshire, but we have no information as to the effects of the battle on the northern populations. By this time, how-ever, the influence of the Scottish kingdom certainly seems to have increased in the south, and in 945 the English king See also:Edmund gave See also:Cumberland, i.e. apparently the British kingdom of Strathclyde, to See also:Malcolm I., king of the Scots, in See also:consideration of his alliance with him. Malcolm's successor Indulph (954-962) succeeded in capturing Edinburgh, which thenceforth remained in See also:possession of the Scots. His successors made repeated attempts to extend their territory southwards, and certain See also:late chroniclers See also:state that Kenneth II. in 971-975 obtained a See also:grant of the whole of Lothian from See also:Edgar. Whatever truth this See also:story may contain, the cession of the See also:province was finally effected by Malcolm II. by force of arms. At his first attempt in ioo6 he seems to have suffered a See also:great defeat from Uhtred, the son of See also:earl See also:Waltheof. Twelve years later, however, he succeeded in conjunction with See also:Eugenius, king of Strathclyde, in annihilating the Northumbrian See also:army at Carham on the Tweed, and Eadulf Cudel, the brother and successor of Uhtred, ceded all his territory to the north of that See also:river as the See also:price of See also:peace.

Henceforth in spite of an invasion by Aldred, the son of Uhtred, during the reign of See also:

Duncan, Lothian remained permanently in possession of the Scottish kings. In the reign of Malcolm III. and his son, the English element appears to have acquired considerable influence in the kingdom. Some three years before he obtained his See also:father's throne Malcolm had by the help of earl See also:Siward secured the See also:government of Cumbria (Strathclyde) with which Lothian was probably See also:united. Then in Io68 he received a large number of exiles from See also:England, amongst them the ./Etheling Eadgar, whose See also:sister See also:Margaret he married. Four other sons in succession occupied the throne, and in the time of the youngest, See also:David, who held most of the south of Scotland as an earldom from 1107-1124 and the whole kingdom from 1124-1153, the See also:court seems already to have been composed chiefly of English and See also:Normans. AuTUoRITIEs.-Bede, Historia Ecclesiastic¢' (ed. C. Plummer, See also:Oxford, 1896); Anglo-Saxon See also:Chronicle (ed. See also:Earle and Plummer, Oxford, 1899) ; See also:Simeon of See also:Durham (Rolls See also:Series, ed. T. See also:Arnold, 1882) ; W. F.

See also:

Skene, Chronicle of .Picts and Scots (Edinburgh, 1867), and See also:Celtic Scotland (Edinburgh, 1876–188o) ; and J. Rhys, Celtic Britain (See also:London). (F. G. M.

End of Article: LOTHIAN

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