Native lordship in medieval Scotland

The earldoms of Strathearn and Lennox, c.1140–1365

Cynthia J. Neville

In the century or so after 1125 significant numbers of Anglo-Norman and European noblemen settled in Scotland at the invitation of the crown, chiefly in the lowlands. North of the Forth, however, lay large provincial lordships ruled on behalf of the king by hereditary lords known as ‘mormaers’. Even after the arrival of the newcomers, the native rulers of this area, Gaelic speakers for the most part, remained a small, powerful, and largely independent group. Using the lordships of Strathearn and Lennox as focal points, this book explores the complex nature of the encounter between the cultures of the Gaels and the Europeans, and shows how important were native customs and practices in the making of the later medieval kingdom.

Cynthia J. Neville is a professor of history at Dalhousie U, Halifax, Canada.

Awards: Winner of the 2006 Saltire Society Literary Award for Scottish History Book of the Year (in memory of Agnes Mure Mackenzie). This book was also the recipient of the 2006 Margaret Wade Labarge Prize by the Canadian Society of Medievalists.