Illa regio, quae nunc corrupte vocatur Scotia, antiquitus appellabatur Albania.... Nunc vero corrupte vocatur Scotia.—Ib. p. 135.
Albania est, quae modo Scotia vocatur.—Ib. p. 153.
Albania tota, quae modo Scotia vocatur.—Ib. p. 154.
Monarchia totius Albaniae quae nunc Scotia dicitur.—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 209.
That part of the Saxon Chronicle which precedes the death of King Alfred in 901, and according to the best authorities was compiled in his reign, nowhere applies the name of Scotland to North Britain; but in that part of the Chronicle which extends from 925 to 975, and which, if not contemporary, was at least compiled in the latter year, has, in 933, ‘In this year King Æthelstan went into Scotland;’ and in 937, in the contemporary poem on the battle of Brunanburg, Constantine’s people are called Sceotta, and the name applied to Ireland is Yraland.—Saxon Chron., ad an.
The transference of the name of Scotia from Ireland to Scotland seems to have been completed in the eleventh century, for Marianus Scotus, who lived from 1028 to 1081, calls Malcolm the Second, who died 1034, ‘rex Scotiae’ (Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 65), and Brian, King of Ireland, ‘rex Hiberniae.’ The author of the Life of St. Cadroë, in the same century, applies the name of Scotia to North Britain (ib. p. 113); while Adam of Bremen, who wrote in 1080, has ‘Hibernia Scottorum patria, quae nunc Irland dicitur’ (De situ Daniae, c. 247).
The third proposition is equally important, and it will be necessary to establish it once for all at the outset. This will appear—First, from the ancient descriptions of Scotland; Secondly, from topographical allusions in the Old Laws and in the Chronicles; and Thirdly, from the names given to the inhabitants of the different provinces.
Under the first head, we find in the tract De situ Albaniae a reference to the ‘montes qui dividunt Scotiam ab Arregaithel,’ or Argyll, and to the Forth, ‘quae regna Scottorum et Anglorum dividit’ (Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 135). In the description of Britain (ib. p. 153) the provinces within the limits of Scotland are thus enumerated:—‘Ultra [Tede flumen (or Tweed)], usque ad flumen Forthi magni, scilicet, Loonia et Galweya (Lothian and Galloway) et Albania tota quae modo Scotia vocatur et Morovia (Moray) et omnes insulae occidentales occeani usque ad Norwegiam et usque Daciam, scilicet, Kathenessia Orkaneya Enchegal et Man et Ordas et Gurth et ceterae insulae occidentales occeani circa Norwegiam et Daciam.’ This points to the time when Caithness, Orkney, and the Western Isles were possessed by the Norwegians and Danes, and distinguishes Scotia from Moray, from which it is separated by the Spey, and from the Norwegian and Danish possessions, which included Caithness, Sutherland, Argyll, and the Isles.
In the ‘Brevis Descriptio Scotiae’ (ib. p. 214), the provinces of Tyndale then belonging to Scotland, Lothian and Galloway, are mentioned, and Argyll is omitted.
Under the second head the same provinces are clearly indicated in one of the Laws of King William, ‘De lege que vocatur Claremathan.’ It commences, ‘De catallo furato et calumpniato statuit dominus Rex apud Perth quod in quacunque provincia sit inventum,’ etc. It then refers to them thus, ‘Si ille qui calumpniatus est de catallo furato vel rapto vocat warentum suum aliquem hominem manentem inter Spey et Forth vel inter Drumalban et Forth;’ that is, a district bounded by the Spey, Drumalban, and the Forth. Then we have, ‘Et si quis ultra illas divisas valet in Moravia vel in Ros vel in Katenes vel in Ergadia vel in Kintyre.’ Then we have ‘Ergadia quae pertinet ad Moraviam.’ Then ‘Si calumpniatus vocaverit warentum aliquem in Ergadia quae pertinet ad Scotiam tunc veniat ad comitem Atholie,’ showing that the part of Ergadia next to Athole was said to belong to Scotia as distinguished from Moravia. Then we have, ‘Omnes illi qui ultra Forth manserint in Laudonia vel in Galwodia.’—Acts of Parl. v. i. p. 50.