Talk:Barons' Letter of 1301

Latest comment: 6 years ago by 85.210.210.11 in topic Scotland, England, Scots, English - and Normans

Scotland, England, Scots, English - and Normans edit

As always this period of history is confusing to modern eyes and needs care in understanding and describing.

One problem is that the kingdom of Scotland was not the same thing as Scot-land (i.e. the land of the Scots) in other words the Highlands. Whilst the Highlands were inhabited by Gaelic-speaking Scots the Lowlands were home to English=speaking Anglo-Saxons - or English.

A second problem is that thanks to the Norman Conquest the aristocracy in both Scotland and England were neither Scots nor English. In both cases they self-described themselves as French, both groups spoke French and in many cases held land in both kingdoms.

The conflicts in this period are perhaps best described as Norman-French civil wars. Cassandra. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.210.210.11 (talk) 09:40, 21 February 2018 (UTC)Reply