I'm Bruce Fummey. Anyone that knows anything about Scottish history,
knows about the Battle of Bannockburn. English overlords had bullied Scotland and its King
in a submission. Scots found a new King; Robert the Bruce, to fight for them,
and eventually the English King leads an army into Scotland for an ultimate showdown,
and from a disparate group of ordinary folk, and warrior nobility, the Scottish King creates a sense
of national identity, that was new and different, but what if I told you it had all happened before.
Now Bannockburn was a decisive turning point in the development of the political structure
of these islands, but it wasn't the only one. I had thought about calling this video, The First Great
Battle Between the Scottish and English, although I kind of know that I'd get howls of opposition in
the comment section below, and to be fair, they might be right for lots of different reasons.
In other ways, it might have been a fair title. The folks who died at Brunanburh might take
issue obviously, although people who died aren't normally in the issue taking business,
but you know how nobility had priests to intercede on their behalf throughout eternity, well warrior
ghosts have internet trolls to do exactly the same thing, but what am I waffling on about with
my diversions? Look if you're interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history,
then click the subscribe button at the bottom right, in the meantime, let me tell you the story.
If you follow this channel, and I hope you do, you'll know that I've made a series of videos
about the kingdoms and peoples that led to the formation of Scotland. Today's story,
is about a crucial interaction between two of those peoples, that's as important as Bannockburn,
in ensuring that Scotland became Scotland. You'll recognize these Aberlemno Stones as Pictish.
As I say, I did think about calling this The First Battle Between the English and the Scots,
but I decided to prioritise historical accuracy over effective marketing,
just this once. To be fair, the main literary source, the Venerable Bede,
seems to have called the southern group English, but nuance, that's for proper historians.
In the post-Roman world, the Anglo-Saxons had burst on to the British scene. Now some pedants might say,
actually Angles, Saxons, Friesians and Jutes gradually, over a period of time,
burst on to the British scene, but that's no way to tell a story.
By the 7th Century, the north of Britain had Angles, Picts, Scots and Britons, but the English/
Angles, were the big boys in the playground; stealing all the other kids dinner money.
They were the power in the north. Now obviously, not every Angle was a warrior, not every Angle
wanted to wield power over Pictland. How could they? Pictland wasn't even really Pictland at the time.
The Picts weren't a nation state, so much as a group of slowly consolidating tribes, with similar
language and culture. In some ways, the Angles and the Picts were just farmers, who spoke different
languages. Although I've never met a farmer yet who didn't want his language and culture to dominate.
Was that sexist? So to the Battle of Dun Nechtan. This was Pictland's Bannockburn.
Now Bannockburn didn't happen out of nowhere. In the years preceding the Battle of Bannockburn,
there had been conflict and battles, during which the Scots had generally come out worse.
The Battle of Dunbar, the Battle of Falkirk, and the forcible acceptance of English over lordship. Now
back in the late 7th Century, people here were subject to Anglian over lordship and dominance,
but around 670 AD, the Pictish people had rebelled against their English masters,
leading to defeat at the Battle of Two Rivers. In the life of Bishop Wilfred it says, 'the bestial
tribes of the Picts felt a fierce contempt for their subjugation to the Saxons,
and threatened to throw off the yoke of slavery, and they gathered together countless tribes
from every nook and cranny in the north, like swarms of ants sweeping from their summer hills'.
Charming! What did the Northumbria King Ecgfrith do? 'He slaughtered an immense number of their
people, filling two rivers with their corpses and their tribes reduced to slavery remains subject
under the yoke of captivity'. Hmm so not so good then. Now the two rivers being Avon and Forth,
this wasn't far from Wallace's defeat at the Battle of Falkirk, 600 years later, plus ça
change, you might say, but Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk wasn't the end of it.
Robert the Bruce had replaced John Baliol as King, with no little controversy I might add.
The later justification of the Declaration of Arbroath, that he was King, only whilst he
protects us from the English, and that if he doesn't, will find somebody else to do
it, it's just what seems to have happened after the Pictish loss at the Battle of the Two Rivers.
They replaced Drest with Bredei. I'll be honest, Aberlemno here is so close to Forfar,
I desperately wanted to say bridie (a Scottish savoury pastry from Forfar)! What am I like? Anyway come here let me show you something else.
Now Robert the Bruce didn't get it all his own way when he declared himself King.
He had to impose himself on the very people that he claimed to protect,
and sure enough after Bredei took over from Drest to secure the northern part of Pictland,
there's a record of an attack on the Orkneys, and sieges at Dundurn and Dunottar. Bredei was
coming south from Moray, to consolidate control over southern Pictish territory,
in the same way as Bruce would go north to impose himself the other way around, 600 years later.
Also, in the run-up to the Battle of Bannockburn, Edward the Second, faced distractions at home and abroad,
in the shape of, obviously the French, an antagonists to his favourite Piers Gaveston. Ecgfrith, King of the
Northumbrian Angles, faced attacks from Mercians, and his key lieutenant and kinsman was killed.
At Bannockburn, Edward the Second of England, was continuing his father's work of subjugating the entire island.
In our story, Ecgfrith was trying to maintain the hegemony built up by his father Oswy. Eventually
Edward the Second of England was left with no option but to come north and deal with Robert the Bruce.
likewise Ecgfrith felt that he had no option but to come and put down these rebellious Picts ...
again! Now St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne warned them against pursuing the Picts, but Ecgfrith
would have none of it, and this is what led to the Battle of Dun Nechtan, Nechtansmire if you're English,
and it's at this point that I have to deal with the issue of location. See I brought you to these
Pictish Stones Aberlemno in Angus, because for many years it was thought that the battle happened
at Dunnichen, just south of here, and the fact that this stone depicts what might be the battle,
if the sun was going in the right direction, makes it tempting and I'll be honest,
interesting as a tour guide to visit, but it's probably not the real location of the battle.
You see, against the advice of St Cuthbert, Ecgfrith and his men, came north in force. The size and strength
of his army meant that there could only be one outcome, just as with the Scots at Bannockburn, the
Picts were outgunned, and being outgunned they fled like the cowardly dogs they were. They retreated
north here into the Highlands and disappeared into the hills. Ecgfrith decided to pursue them.
Now his advisor said no, even the Romans didn't try and chase them into those Highland glens. What if
it's a trap, but Ecgfrith marched on through the Killiecrankie Pass, that would do for Redcoats
fighting Highland tribesmen hundreds of years later, over the Drumochter Pass to the Cairngorms.
As people enjoy water sports here today, it seems a world away from a battleground,
but the annals describe a narrow place, surrounded by mountains, and next to a large loch. This
is about six miles north of Kingussie. Across there is the B9152. It goes through a narrow place,
surrounded by mountains, and I'm standing next to that large loch, Loch Inch. At the
other side of the road is the Dunachton Burn. In the local village you'll find Dunachton Road.
On the banks of this loch, on the 20th of May 685 AD, the dominance and expansion of the Angles
came to an end, as the slaughter that left the King, Ecgfrith and the majority of his army, dead,
so they could no longer subjugate their northern neighbours, just like what happened at Bannockburn.
Their story in Bede tells us, 'hence forward the hope and strength of the English realm began to
waver and decline, for the Picts recovered their own lands that had been occupied by the English,
while the Scots living in Britain, and a proportion of the Britons themselves regained their freedom'.
Many of the English at this time were killed, enslaved or forced to flee from Pictish territory.
So Bridei, was now King of the Picts, just as Robert the Bruce created a sense of Scottish
nationhood in opposition to England, Bridei created a Pictish kingdom in opposition to the
Angles. Pictland had been a group of tribes, with similar culture and language. This gave birth to
a kingdom, a kingdom that would grow to become Scotland. Now I've got a video asking whether
Robert the Bruce actually gained Scotland's independence at the Battle of Bannockburn, and it's
coming up on screen now. In the meantime, tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.