The Triumph of Scotland

Abstract

The dog that did not bark in the night gives a perfect text for discussing medieval Scotland’s political history. In a British context, the main point is the importance of what did not happen. Medieval Scotland was not conquered, neither by the Normans, nor by Edward I and his successors; and it did not suffer the continuous conflicts found in England throughout the middle ages. This chapter examines why this was so, and seeks to demonstrate how — as with the dog in the night — Scotland’s history yields valuable clues about the nature of medieval political society. It shows, for instance, how a country could evolve peacefully out of the ‘Dark Ages’ into the mainstream of west European life. It illustrates the consequences, such as the growth of strong national kingship and government, and the emergence of widespread national consciousness. And, perhaps most importantly, it demonstrates that successful medieval government did not depend so much upon centralised institutions and bureaucracies as, in the last resort, upon good relations between the crown and its prominent subjects, the ‘political community’.

‘Is there anything to which you would wish to draw my attention?’

‘To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.’

‘The dog did nothing in the night-time!’

‘That was the curious incident’, remarked Sherlock Holmes.

(A. Conan Doyle, ‘Silver Blaze’ in his Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)