ABSTRACT
In every country the organization of society is like a section of a rock face, with new layers and old layers built one upon the other. A general picture of feudal society was that the sovereign stood at the head of the kingdom. An idea of the interrelated duties can be gauged from some negotiations carried on between the peasants attached to an abbey in Tweeddale and the abbot. A good deal was still expected of the underlings in the sixteenth century. The partial erosion of the feudal system in Scotland was due to the fierce wars of independence against England. The powers of Huntley, as Lieutenant of the North, extended not only over the whole of the north of Scotland, but included the Isles. Although industry was comparatively unimportant in sixteenth-century Scotland there was nevertheless an increase in trade, and with the increase the power of the Royal Burghs made some progress.
