Warfare in Medieval Scotland includes all military activity in the modern borders of Scotland, or by forces originating in the region, between the departure of the Romans in the fifth century and the adoption of the innovations of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. In this period conflict developed from minor raids to major conflicts, incorporating many of the innovations of continental warfare.
In the Early Middle Ages war on land was characterised by the use of small war-bands of household troops often engaging in raids and low level warfare. The arrival of the Vikings brought a new scale of naval warfare, with rapid movement based around the Viking longship. The birlinn, which developed from the longship, became a major factor in warfare in the Highlands and Islands. By the High Middle Ages, the kings of Scotland could command forces of tens of thousands of men for short periods as part of the "common army", mainly of poorly armoured spearmen and bowmen. After the "Davidian Revolution" of the twelfth century, which introduced elements of feudalism to Scotland, these forces were augmented by small numbers of mounted and heavily armoured knights. Feudalism also introduced castles into the country, originally simple wooden motte-and-bailey constructions, but these were replaced in the thirteenth century with more formidable stone "enceinte" castles, with high encircling walls. In the thirteenth century the threat of Scandinavian naval power subsided and the kings of Scotland were able to use naval forces to help subdue the Highlands and Islands.
Scottish field armies rarely managed to stand up to the usually larger and more professional armies produced by England, but they were used to good effect by Robert I of Scotland at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 to secure Scottish independence. He adopted a policy of slighting castles and made use of naval power to support his forces, beginning to develop a royal Scottish naval force. In the Late Middle Ages under the Stewart kings these forces were further augmented by specialist troops, particularly men-at-arms and archers, hired by bonds of manrent, similar to English indentures of the same period. New "livery and maintenance" castles were built to house these troops and castles began to be adapted to accommodate gunpowder weapons. The Stewarts also adopted major innovations in continental warfare, such as longer pikes, the extensive use of artillery, and they built up a formidable navy. However, one of the best armed and largest Scottish armies ever assembled still met with defeat at the hands of an English army at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, which saw the destruction of a large number of ordinary troops, a large section of the nobility and King James IV.
Early Middle Ages
Warriors In the politically divided world of early medieval Scotland the nucleus of most armed forces was a leader's bodyguard or war-band. In the Brittonic languages, this was called the teulu, as in teulu Dewr (the "War-band of Deira"). In Latin the most common word in this period is tutores, and derives from the Latin verb tueor, meaning "defend, preserve from danger".L. Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2003), , p. 56. In peace-time, the war-band's activity was centred around the "Great Hall". Here, in both Germanic and Celtic cultures, the feasting, drinking and other forms of male bonding that kept up the war-band's integrity would take place. In the contemporaneous Old English epic poem Beowulf, the war-band was said to sleep in the Great Hall after the lord had retired to his adjacent bedchamber.L. Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2003), , pp. 248–9. It is not likely that any war-band in the period exceeded 120–150 men, as no hall structure having a capacity larger than this has been found by archaeologists in northern Britain.L. Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2003), , p. 157. The war-band was the core of the larger armies that were mobilised from time to time for campaigns of significant size. These wider forces depended on the obligations to defend a province or kingdom by land and sea. Early sources from Dál Riata indicate an attempt to define this as an obligation based on landholding, with obligations to provide a specified number of men or ships based on the amount of land held by an individual.A. A. M. Duncan, "The Making of the Kingdom" in, R. Mitchison, ed., Why Scottish History Matters (Edinburgh: Saltire Society, 1997), , p. 13. Pictish stones, like that at Aberlemno in Angus, show warriors with swords, spears, bows, helmets and shields.B. Yorke, "Kings and kingship", in P. Stafford, ed., A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland, c.500-c.1100 (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), , pp. 76–90. These images may show infantry in formation, or gathered together for protection, and they show mounted troops, sometimes heavily armoured, suggesting a mounted warrior elite.D. Mersey, Warriors (Conway: Maritime Press, 2007), , p. 240.
Hill forts
Early fortifications in Scotland, particularly in the north and west, included modest stone built towers known as brochs and duns and, particularly in the south and east larger hill forts,S. Piggott and J. Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales: Prehistory: Volume 1 of Agrarian History of England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), , pp. 124–5. There is evidence for about 1,000 Iron Age hillforts in Scotland, most located below the Clyde-Forth line. They appear to have been largely abandoned in the Roman period, but some seem to have been reoccupied after their departure.A. Konstam, Strongholds of the Picts: The Fortifications of Dark Age Scotland (Botley: Osprey, 2010), , p. 12. Most are circular, with a single palisade around an enclosure.J-D. G. G. Lepage, British Fortifications Through the Reign of Richard III: An Illustrated History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012), , pp. 25 and 31. Forts of the Early Medieval era were often smaller, more compact, "nucleated" constructions,. sometimes utilising major geographical features, as at Dunadd and Dunbarton.L. R. Laing, The Archaeology of Celtic Britain and Ireland, C. AD 400–1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn., 2006), , p. 34. The large number of hill forts in Scotland may have made open battle less important than it was in contemporaneous Anglo-Saxon England, and the relatively high proportion of kings who are recorded as dying in fires, suggest that sieges were a more important part of warfare in Northern Britain.
Ships
Sea power may also have been important. Irish annals record an attack by the Picts on Orkney in 682, which must have necessitated a large naval force,J. N. G. Ritchie and A. Ritchie, Scotland, Archaeology and Early History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd edn., 1991), , pp. 171–2. and also they lost 150 ships in a disaster in 729.K. J. Edwards and I. Ralston, Scotland after the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC – AD 1000 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), , p. 221. Ships were also vital in the amphibious warfare in the Highlands and Islands and from the seventh century the Senchus fer n-Alban indicates that Dál Riata had a ship-muster system that obliged groups of households to produce a total of 177 ships and 2,478 men. The same source mentions the first recorded naval battle around the British Isles in 719 and eight naval expeditions between 568 and 733.N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain. Volume One 660–1649 (London: Harper, 1997), , p. 6. The only vessels to survive form this period are dugout canoes, but images from the period suggest that there may have been skin boats (similar to the Irish currach) and larger oared vessels.L. R. Laing, The Archaeology of Celtic Britain and Ireland, c. AD 400–1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn., 2006), , pp. 129–30. The Viking raids and invasions of the British Isles were based on superior sea-power, which enabled the creation of the thalassocracies (sea-based lordships) of the north and west. The long-ship, the key to their success, was a graceful, long, narrow, light, wooden boat with a shallow draft hull designed for speed. This shallow draft allowed navigation in waters only deep and permitted beach landings, while its light weight enabled it to be carried over portages. Longships were also double-ended, the symmetrical bow and stern allowing the ship to reverse direction quickly without having to turn around."Skuldelev 2 – The great longship", Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, retrieved 25 February 2012.N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain. Volume One 660–1649 (London: Harper, 1997) pp. 13–14.
High Middle Ages
Land forces
By the twelfth century the ability to call on wider bodies of men for major campaigns had become formalised as the "common" (communis exercitus) or "Scottish army" (exercitus Scoticanus), based on a universal obligation linked to the holding of variously named units of land.G. W. S. Barrow, Scotland and its Neighbours in the Middle Ages (London: Continuum, 1992), , p. 59. This could be used to produce a regional army, as the future Robert I did when, from 1298 to 1302, as Earl of Carrick, he raised "my army of Carrick", but also a national Scottish army, as he did later in the Wars of Independence.M. Brown, Bannockburn: the Scottish War and the British Isles, 1307–1323 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008), , pp. 95–9. Later decrees indicated that the common army was a levy of all able-bodied freemen aged between 16 and 60, with 8-days warning.M. Brown, The Wars of Scotland, 1214–1371 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), , p. 58. It produced relatively large numbers of men serving for a limited period, usually as unarmoured or poorly armoured bowmen and spearmen.K. J. Stringer, The Reign of Stephen: Kingship, Warfare, and Government in Twelfth-Century England (London: Psychology Press, 1993), , pp. 30–1. In this period it continued to be mustered by the earls and they often led their men in battle, as was the case in the Battle of the Standard in 1138. It would continue to provide the vast majority of Scottish national armies, potentially producing tens of thousands of men for short periods of conflict, into the early modern era.A. D. M. Barrell, Medieval Scotland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), , p. 23.