Welsh Journals

SCOTLAND FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO 1603. By W. Croft Dickinson. 3rd edition, revised and edited by A. A. M. Duncan. Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press, 1977. Pp. 442. Paper £ 4.95, boards £ 9.75. The late Professor Croft Dickinson's account of Scotland before the union of the crowns was first published in 1961, at the beginning of what has proved to be a remarkably fertile period in Scottish medieval studies. Professor Duncan has now undertaken the task of revising Dickinson's book in the light of work that has appeared since 1961. Duncan's revision is more than a mere updating, however. He has contributed some wholly new material, such as his account of James III and his discussion of religion and society before the Reformation. He has substantially rewritten several chapters, most notably those on Early Society and the Great Cause. He has also-and it is important for the reader to realise this- rearranged many parts of Dickinson's book, especially the chapters on James IV. Nonetheless, the general structure of Dickinson's book is preserved, and many of Dickinson's judgements have stood up remarkably well to the test of nearly twenty years of research. In the discussion of social and economic history, some of the earlier certainties have dis- appeared. Duncan is not prepared, for example, to retain Dickinson's view that the lowlanders lived 'under a manorial or feudal system', but the study of medieval Scottish agrarian history has not yet progressed far enough for Dickinson's generalisations to be replaced by a satisfactory alternative synthesis. The impact of new research and fresh judgements is much more apparent in the chapters on political history. The more favourable estimate of David II which developed in the 1960s finds its place in the chapter still entitled 'Dark and Drublie Days'; the chapter on James I has been substantially rewritten to emphasise James's search for financial resources, and in the chapter on 'The Crown and the Black Douglases' there is a very useful analysis of the social basis of the power of overmighty subjects in the fifteenth century. In the discussions of warfare, both civil and foreign, there is a fuller appreciation of the im- portance of artillery. Of the entirely new material, that on James III is perhaps the most interesting, for it suggests that Professor Duncan is not concerned merely to synthesize recent scholarship but is also stamping his own interpretation upon the work. Duncan acknowledges his indebtedness to Dr. MacDougall's work on James III, but, as a comparison with MacDougall's contribution to the recent collection of essays on Scottish society in the fifteenth century reveals, Duncan's interpretation of James is markedly less sympathetic than that of MacDougall. Duncan describes James as 'a calamitous failure who always took the easy way out, distrustful and lazy'-a harsher judgement even than Dickinson allowed. Indeed, throughout the book Duncan's own incisive comments give an added sharpness to the material he has inherited. He has handled Dickin- son's text, however, with considerable sensitivity, and the result is a revitalisation of a book which, when it first appeared, provided a much needed up-to-date account of medieval Scotland within the compass of a single volume. Duncan's revision ensures that Dickinson's work will continue to serve its original purpose. ANTHONY TUCK Durham