From the intercourse which existed between Scotland and England during the long interval of peace, previous to the aggression of Edward, the manners, particularly of the higher classes, were in many respects nearly the same. The frequent intermarriages tended, more than any other cause, to render the inhabitants of the two countries familiar with the habits and customs of each other, while both imitated the French in dress and language; and their domestic economy, in numerous instances, also bore a close resemblance.
Though the barons and churchmen among the Scots had no taste for the high-spiced wines so much relished by the English, yet in the viands which graced their festivities, particularly those who held lands in England, there appeared to have been little or no alteration. On great occasions, the seal, the porpoise, and the wild boar, though now banished from the table, never failed to make their appearance. Venison pasties, game, poultry, and baked meats of all descriptions, with fish in endless variety, were common at the tables of the great. Shell-fish, particularly oysters, were much in demand among the ecclesiastics. This is evident from the quantity of shells which are still to be found in digging about the ruins of religious establishments. The frequent recurrence of those periods when food of an opposite description was forbidden, sufficiently accounts for this profusion.
Among the culinary preparations that were peculiar to Scotland, one known by the name of Mìr-Mòr, was held in the highest estimation. This savoury dish always had a place at the royal table; and so much was it a favourite, that in the traditionary songs of the Gaëlic bards, it is mentioned as a viand fit only for a hero, and represented by them to be given as such by Fingal to his friend Goll Mac-mhairn, in addition to his beath fir, or “champion’s meal,” which he received sitting at the right hand of the royal donor. Of this highly-prized morceau friand, minced meat, marrow and herbs, were the principal ingredients; and in this composition it is not difficult to trace the origin of the “Haggies,” a dish still considered national among the Scots.
Were it a fair criterion to estimate the strength and importance of a country by the princely revenues of its church establishment, Scotland, in the thirteenth century, might be considered as holding a very respectable rank among the nations of Europe. The deference which the Roman Pontiffs, on various occasions, paid to the Kings of Scotland, while it displayed their anxiety to preserve, by conciliatory conduct, the spiritual supremacy in the kingdom, also shows that the national or patriotic feelings of the Scottish ecclesiastics were stronger than those ties which connected them with the See of Rome; for, by their well-timed support of the royal authority, the thunders of the Vatican, so terrible in other countries, rolled harmlessly over without distracting the state; and the King was often enabled to contest, and bring to a favourable termination, those differences which arose between him and the Pope, with whose legates he frequently assumed very high ground, not only forbidding them his presence, but even refusing them a safe conduct through his dominions.
To give any thing like a satisfactory account of the revenues of the several ecclesiastical endowments, would occupy a space not consistent with the design of the present work. It may, however, be briefly stated, that the wealth of the church did not altogether arise from her spiritual emoluments. Agriculture, and various branches of traffic, engaged the attention, and increased the riches as well as the luxuries of the priesthood. In 1254 the Cistercian monks were the greatest breeders of sheep in England. Being exempted from duties, their wealth rapidly increased. That they possessed similar privileges in Scotland, is pretty evident; for in 1275,[27] when Bagamont, an emissary from Rome, was sent to levy a tenth on the property of the Scottish church for the relief of the Holy Land, this wealthy order of temporal as well as spiritual shepherds, compounded for the enormous sum of 50,000 merks. By this compromise, the amount of their revenues remained unknown.
The following is part of the live-stock, which (according to an inventory preserved in the chartulary of Newbottle) at one time belonged to the Abbey of Melrose, viz. 325 forest mares, 54 domestic mares, 104 domestic horses, 207 stags or young horses, 39 three-year old colts, and 172 year old colts. Amidst all this profusion of wealth, the serious reader may desire to know how the ceremonials of religion were attended to. From the many jokes which Fordun relates as having taken place among the clergy of his day, we cannot suppose that either the teachers or the people were more devout than their neighbours. An old writer describes the interior of a cathedral as a place where the men came with their hawks and dogs, walking to and fro, to converse with their friends, to make bargains and appointments, and to show their guarded coats; and among the Scots, it is well known, weapons were too often displayed on such occasions.
From what has been stated in the foregoing pages, it is pretty evident that Scotland occupied a more prominent station among the nations of Europe, before the aggression of Edward I. than she has ever done since. The single fact, that Alexander II. mustered and led to the borders of England, in 1244, an army of 100,000 foot, with a well appointed body of cavalry, proves that, at the period under review, when the numerical strength of the two British kingdoms were marshalled, the inferiority of Scotland was by no means very apparent. An army so numerous as that we have mentioned, no subsequent monarch of that kingdom ever had it in his power to bring into the field. On the death of Alexander III. the prosperity of Scotland became eclipsed—anarchy overspread the land—the machiavelism of her arch-enemy prevailed—her ancient glory was trampled in the dust—and commerce deserted a country overrun with the horrors of war. Thus, in the emphatic language of the Bard, “Oure gold wes changyd into lede;” “and,” says MacPherson, “our fishermen and merchants into cut-throats and plunderers, whose only trade was war, and whose precarious and only profit was the ruin of her neighbours.”