Ditchburn Chpt - Scotland & Europe, 2nd estate

Question 1

Prohibited consanguinity (p108)

Answer 1

Marriage within 4 degrees of consanguinity was prohibited without dispensation.
C15th - Papal penitentiary received 10 petitions p.a. on ave from Scots

Question 2

Ways in which piety was demonstrated (p109)

Answer 2

Patronage for monasteries & churches
Going on pilgrimage (Shrines held saintly relics & praying there brought people into contact with saints & their “miraculous powers”)
Macbeth made pilgrimage to Rome in C11th

Question 3

Jubilee Years

Answer 3

Declared periodically from 1300 (by pope?)
Pope offered plenary indulgence to people from outside city who spent 15 days visiting prescribed sites.
Equivalent to full remission on penance imposed after comfessing sins.
William, 8th Earl of Douglas, his son & other Douglas followers took advantage as did Bishop of St Andrews, all visiting Rome in 1450.

Question 4

Pilgimage destinations

Answer 4

Rome popular because of large number saintly relics, esp associated with St Peter.
Holy Land
Santiago de Compostella (NW Spain)
But all a long way for Scots.
Closer alternatives were Scottish shrines or Canterburgy (shrine to St Thomas Becket), Walsingham (shrine to Mary), Durham (St Cuthbert relics)
Visits to English shrines continued despite Anglo-Scottish conflict but some preferred continent.
Scots commonly visited Amiens

Question 5

Primary function of aristocracy was combat

Answer 5

Could be linked with religion eg crusades.
1095 - Pope Urban II called on Christians to free Holy Land from Islamic control = 1st crusade.
German chronicler Ekkehard of Aura estimated 100k men assembled from Christian Europe inc Scotland.
Reward was plenary indulgence (excusing from punishment of any sins already confessed)

Question 6

Sack of Constantinople (p110)

Answer 6

Attack by crusaders on Orthodox Christian city of Constantinople in 1204 during 4th Crusade.

Question 7

Crusading

Answer 7

Ended in Holy Land with fall of Acre to Turks in 1291.
Crusading opps still in North Africa, Iberia (to recover territory lost to muslims in C8th)
Baltic (Prussian-based Teutonic Order campaigned against pagan Lithuanians)

Question 8

Scottish crusading

Answer 8

Sir James Douglas took King Robert I’s heart on crusade to Moorish citadel of Teba de Hardeles in 1330
Robert’s father & grandfather had undertaken crusades.
Robert’s son, David II, also interested in crusades
But mainly family or individual experience,
Support for crusades tempered by Anglo-Scottish conflict (explict mention in Decl Arboath) & more usual in times of truce

Question 9

Tournaments

Answer 9

Developed in C11th.
Teams of warriors fighting in melee & in jousts
Originally fought under war conditions so good place to practice battlefield skills
Later became entertainment with blunted weapons & staged eg to celebrate royal marriages or for political propaganda
Anglo-Scottish tournaments were not unusual.
Scots took part in international circuit

Question 10

External enemies

Answer 10

Were few for Scottish Kings & aristocrats.

Between 1100 and 1500, only 2 external threats: England and Norway which ruled Hebrides, Orkney & Shetland.

Question 11

Relations with Norway

Answer 11

Scottish monarchy & aristocracy tried to wrest control of Western Isles from Norway in mid-C13th
king Haakon IV met Scots at Battle of Largs in 1263. Outcome contentious but Scots gained control of Hebrides after Haakon’s death. Included Isle of Man and ratified in treaty of Perth (1266).
Orkney & Shetland remained Norwegian territory till 1468 (Orkney) and 1469 (Shetland) when James III acquired them through marriage to Margaret, daughter of King Christian IV of Denmark & Norway

Question 12

Relations with England - C12th (1)

Answer 12

David I secured Cumberland, Westmorland & Northumberland by 1140s. Ambition may have been to go further & gain control over entirety of territoy of archbishopric of York.
Economic advantages = Cumbria rich in silver deposits & financed huge expansion of Scottish economy.
Symbolised by issue of 1st Scottish coins

Question 13

Relations with England - C12th (2)

Answer 13

These territories lost after David I’s death, only claim to them remained.
William the Lion tried to regain but territory more firmly incorporated in English kingdom under Henry II.
William’s attempts to get control ended in his capture & the Treaty of Falaise in 1174 which made William acknowledge Henry as overlord.
William bought release from Falaise through Quitclaim of Canterbury in 1189 but relations remained difficult.

Question 14

Relations with England - C13th

Answer 14

Peace achieved through Treaty of York in 1237 when Alexander II and Henry III agreed Anglo-Scottish border.

Question 15

Relations with France (1)

Answer 15

William the Lion tried to enlist French & Flemish support prior to 1174 defeat. Only partially successful.
Formal alliance with France agreed 1295. Direct help usually limited to small numbers men, arms and/or money.

Question 16

Relations with France (2) (p112)

Answer 16

Scottish incursions into England to support French initiatives usually ended in disaster eg Neville’s Cross (1346) and Flodden (1513)
1385 - substantial French force landed in Scotland but joint invasion of England achieved little because planned simultaneous French invasion of south England didn’t happen & French & Scots forces fell out.

Question 17

Relations with France (3) (p113)

Answer 17

Alliance lasted till 1560. Arguably promised more than delivered. Anglo-French conflict periodically through C13 and early C14 & then came 100 years War (1337 - 1453). Individual Scots fought ad hoc for France eg Sir William Douglas at Poitiers in 1346.

Question 18

Relations with France (4)

Answer 18

Substantial Scottish forces sent to France only once 1419 to 1424. 1000s soldiers sent. Prospect then of united Anglo-French kingdom = severe threat to Scottish interests.
Scots suffered defeats but intervention critical in blocking English expansion from Normany into central France.
However, did not turn tide (that was Joan of Arc)

Question 19

Relations with Netherlands (1)

Answer 19

English ambition in both France & Scotland was responsible for Franco-Scottish alliance. 4th element was Netherlands - politically fragmented but economically precocious. England, Scotland and France all had interests there.

Question 20

Relations with Netherlands (2)

Answer 20

Southern Netherlands (Flanders) part of French kingdom but textile industry relied on wool from England and Scotland. This divided loyalties and was source of friction between Netherlands' rulers and towns.
Scottish interests best served when antagonism between France & Flanders & within Flanders was low. but often wasn't so Scotland's commercial & political interests were in conflict.

Question 21

Relations with Netherlands (3)

Answer 21

Solution was marriage alliances.

1) 1282 - Alexander III’s elder son marries daughter of Count of Flanders
2) 1444 - James I’s daughter marries Lord of Veere in Zeeland
3) 1449 - James II marries Mary of Guelders. Symbolised military alliance between Scotland & Duke of Burgundy (domain included much of Low Countries) formalised in Treaty of Brussels.

Question 22

Significance of Netherlands/French alliances

Answer 22

Remains contested.
Some eg Norman Macdougall (See “An antidote to the English”) discount economic considerations in formulation of foreign policy & see French alliance as primary.
Others eg Alexander Stevenson argues economics was central to diplomacy & Scots only agreed French alliance in 1295 because French influence was paramount in Flanders ie Flanders not France was the primary target for a Scots alliance (p114)