ABSTRACT
Alexander III was the last of the kings from the line of Malcolm III. In a sense he was the last truly Scottish king, for all those who followed were largely of foreign descent, mainly Norman or French, with some (though not much) Scottish blood. In many respects Alexander was the best of his dynasty. For once, the provinces that habitually rebelled, like Galloway and Moray, were quiet. His military activity was largely confined to his great and successful campaigns against the Norsemen. He was generally remembered in Scottish history as ‘the peaceable king’. In his time the prosperity of all classes advanced. A now forgotten Scottish writer described his rule as one of peace and love in the land, and plenty of ‘ale and bread, of wine and wax (cake), of game and glee [happy singing]’. It is a good place at which to look closer at everyday life in Scotland in the thirteenth century. One result of the ‘infiltration’ of the Normans and their ideas into Scotland was a gradual change in the economy. Up to the twelfth century it had been an agricultural economy. Even in the least arable parts or those where livestock generally had to roam huge distances to get enough nourishment, some kind of living was possible for all. If you could not grow good crops to sell, you could rear cattle and sheep, and either would bring in enough money or goods you wanted in exchange. Bartering goods was the more usual way of obtaining your needs, as coinage did not become widespread until the thirteenth century. Most people worked on their own patches, even if in the Highlands the patches were part of a clan chief’s territory and in the Lowlands leased in some way from big landlords. There were also some towns, small by
comparison with what had already grown up in England and elsewhere in Europe. Dumfermline had been a favourite with Malcolm III and Margaret, and there were beginnings at Stirling, Edinburgh and Glasgow. There were also many villages, tiny communities that had probably not changed for centuries. But Scotland was still a land of huge, wild open spaces, farmed haphazardly where the grass or earth was good.
